


Carrying the Broomstick

by KindaAnxious



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Hogswarts AU, Katherine goes by Plumber in this fic, Multi, NO SIDE PAIRINGS, Trans Crutchie, and sarah's a sixth year, bc i love the underrated ships 2 much, is completely OK with that, its not just oneshots, kath davey and race are prefects, mush just hangs about with them, specs finch and mush are the kool kids, specs is a huge Nerd spoiler alert!!!, they're fifth years, this follows a plot btw, trans finch, well specs and finch are
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 18:57:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10973352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KindaAnxious/pseuds/KindaAnxious
Summary: The Newsies explore boarding school with sports, friendships, relationships and shit teachers.The fact that there's spells is a plus.





	1. Chapter 1

_'Oh thank god_!' Jack stops running once he reaches Crutchie, breathing heavily. 'I've already ran into two owls and a very small first year.' Crutchie chuckles, looking up at his mum, who's staring at Jack in amusement. 'Hiya, Mrs Morr- Miss Jenson, sorry.'

'Hi Jack.' She smiles. 'Would you mind pushing Charlie's cart up on one of the carriages for him, while I say goodbye to him?' Jack nods, before disappearing into the swarm of kids. 'You sure you got everything?'

Crutchie rolls his eyes. 'It's a bit late if I haven't. I'll be fine, the only difference is that i'm staying in a dorm this year. Just because it's your first time here doesn't mean it's mine.' He teases, and his mother slaps him lightly on his arm, then hugs him tightly. 

'Be good, or I don't care what spells you _think_ you've learned, but I will walk the full way up to Hogwarts and whoop your ass to downtown London.' Crutchie laughs, giving his mum a quick kiss on the cheek, before shuffling over to the carriage that Jack went to.

Through the window he can see that Race and Davey are in with him, along with a girl who Crutchie thinks he knows but isn't sure. He enters the carriage and takes the first seat in the four seater across from then, glad to see they're the only ones in the carriage. 'Crutchie!' Race shouts, smiling. 'We're fifth years now!' 

Crutchie raises his crutch in celebration, almost hitting Romeo as he arrives. 'Oh my god, I'm so sorry!' Romeo just laughs, flopping on a seat across from Crutchie, while Race turns around to continue an argument they were having during the summer. The girl manages to catch Crutchie's eye. 

'I'm Sarah, David's sister, and I'm in the year above. I hope you guys don't mind me hanging about with you for a bit, because my only friend is getting home-schooled this year.' She explains, and Crutchie nods, smiling brightly.

'Oh yeah, that's no problem at all. I'm sure Smalls and Katherine will appreciate another girl.' Jack snorts into his water bottle, while Davey punches his arm.

'Remember first year?' He asks Crutchie smugly, and Sarah rolls her eyes .

She reaches over to punch the arm her brother didn't. 'Dickhead. Just because me and Katherine fought over you when I was a second year. I'm sure we'll be OK now.' 

Romeo tuts. 'Mmmmm, I don't know. I heard Katherine talking some major shit.' 

'Don't listen to him, I only talk shit to people's faces.' Katherine's leaning on the doorway, smirking. Everyone welcomes her, Race celebrating that the only girl Slytherin is here.

Jack whispers something to Davey about Kath not being the only snake here, and Davey giggles into his book, avoiding the suspicious glances that Race is giving them. 

'Please tell me that Davey didn't bring more than one book for the train this year.' Katherine sighs, taking the seat next to Crutchie, before noticing Sarah. 'Oh! Hiya!' 

'Hey.' Sarah giggles awkwardly. 'Um, sorry about the whole Jack thing, by the way...'

Katherine laughs, making Jack look slightly offended. 'Don't worry about it, but I could be saying that because I _wo_ -on.' She teases lightly, making Sarah have a light tint of pink in her cheeks, flipping off Katherine.

'Bliiink!' Romeo shouts, patting the seat next to him, as Blink walks in, fixing his Slytherin tie. 'How was your summer?'

'Ugh, it was terrible.' He complains, putting his feet on Romeo's lap. 'I had to stay in the highlands with my aunts and cousins. My cousins are dicks who probably fucked the sheep, and my aunt is a total homo-hating, racist piece of shit who told me that my pink tshirt was 'slightly gay', like _yes Deborah that what I was fucking going for_.'

The whole group starts to laugh at Blink's story when the carriage doors opens, and someone pops their head through. Crutchie recognizes him immediately as Specs, the star of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, and one of the top students. He blinks quickly, scanning the room through his thick glasses.

'Looking for someone?' Jack asks, and Specs grins at him. 

'Yeah actually, my friend said he's in carriage 8, but unless Mush lied to me... This isn't carriage 8, isn't it?'

'Sorry.' Crutchie smiles uneasily, but Specs just shrugs it off. 

'Thanks anyways. See ya later, Kelly.' His head disappears, and Romeo lets out a high pitched noise. 

'You _know_ Specs?' He screeches, waving his arms around and just narrowly avoiding hitting Blink, who swats him away. 

Jack scratches the back of his head, shrugging. 'I guess? I mean, I played against him in Quidditch a few times, and I'm pretty sure he came onto me once, but I thought he was being friendly, so.'

'I can't believe Specs came onto you, and you didn't tell us.' Crutchie says, looking impressed. 'I mean, Romeo and I have been in his house for 4 years, and we've said nothing to him, despite the fact Romeo thinks he's a god.' Jack blushes, looking down at his hands.

'Because it's an embarrassing story. I called him 'bro'.' 

Race starts to crack up, Katherine joining in with him. 'Oh man,' Race smirks. 'Your romantic life is just plain _sad_.'

David looks up from his book. 'Like yours is any better.' Kath laughed even louder, and while Jack didn't out rightly laugh this time, his face was shaking. Crutchie stands up, just as the train starts to move. 

'Jack, we're going to the sweet cart.' He states firmly, grabbing his crutch.

'We are?' Jack questions, but gets up anyways.

'Yup.' Once they've passed the curtain, Crutchie pulls him aside, so they're not blocking the aisle. 'Alright, what do you, Davey and Kath keep laughing at?'

Jack looks confused for a second, but breaks out into his signature smirk. 'Crutch, you're gonna love this.'

'Spill it!'

'Ok, so you know the interschool Quidditch match we had with that American school that Race played in last year, right?' Crutchie nods, remembering that he sat on a bench all day in fucking July, got sunburnt badly, and all because he promised Davey that he'd sit with him, who had to review it for the school newspaper.

'Well,' Jack continues. 'Race got a little friendly with the beater on the other team, ya know, the one everyone said broke a kids arm? Davey caught them making out in an alley. But here's where it gets interesting. A few we-'

Crutchie frowns, interrupting. 'Wait, the hot one?' Jack looks at him in frustration. 

'I don't fucking know, yeah I guess? I still thought I was straight before the summer, and he wasn't in my changing room.' Crutchie breaks out into a grin.

'Is that why you and Kath broke up? What happened in summer, eh? Oh wait, didn't Davey stay over at yours for lik-' 

'That's not why, Crutch. Kath broke up with me because she thought we need to explore more, and while she values my friendship a lot, she wants to put herself out there romantically, especially since she's discovered she's bi. And so did I.'

'Hmm. Continue.'

'Finally.' Jack muttered. 'A few weeks ago, I visited the social care office in the muggle world with Medda, and who else was sitting on the seat but that kid himself! Medda, of course, started talking to him, and asked if he was going to Hogwarts, which he is, and she told me to look out for him. His name's Spot Conlon.'

Crutchie whistled, his face lighting up. 'Holy shit. This is just like Grease!'

'What?' Jack furrows his eyebrows, and Crutchie rolls his eyes. 

'You've been living in the muggle world for a year, Jack. How has Medda not shown you Grease yet? I'm getting my mum to send it to me this weekend, I swear.'

Jack shuffles with his hands in his pockets. 'Can we go back now?'

'Are you missing Davey?' Crutchie coos.

'You're real funny.'

* * *

 'Where the fuck is Specs?' Mush complains, putting his feet up on the seat he's saving for him. Finch raises his eyebrows, looking up from his magazine.  

'He'll be here, he probably just got lost or someth-'

'I GOT LOST!' Specs proclaims, shoving Mush's feet off. 'I went into Jack Kelly's carriage instead.'

Finch laughs. 'Isn't he the guy who you came onto you and he called you 'bro'?' Mush snorts at the memory, while Specs groans, putting his head into his hands. 

'He called me _bro_.' Specs repeats mournfully. 'Poor 13 year old me was so heartbroken I barely revised for the Dark Arts test I had the next day.'

'And yet you were _still_ top of the class.' Finch adds bitterly, taking a bite of his apple. Specs winks, as the carriage doors open. A scrawny kid shuffles in, and takes a seat in the four across from them silently. Mush figured he must be new, probably a third year. Specs blinks at him a few times, before breaking out in a friendly smile. 

'Hey, aren't you the beater from Ilvermorny who we played last year? You were so good, man.' The boy looks up at Specs, his face neutral. He nods after a moment, his eyes skimming over Mush and Finch. 'Did you transfer?'

He nods again, and Mush reckons that the reason he's not talking is because of nerves. 'What's your name?' Finch asks, not-so-subtly trying to check him out. Mush elbows him lightly, giving him a glare.

'Spot Conlon.' The silence which follows is awkward, so Mush decides to speak up.

'Um, I'm Mush, that's Specs, and he's Finch. We're all hufflepuffs, so if you need any help, come and ask us.' He's not as used to talking to new people as his friends are, because half the people he knows is due to his best friends, but his goal this year is to put himself out there more.

Spot moves his stare from Specs to Mush, and after a few seconds, nods. 'Ok.' Then, he takes a look at Finch, winks, and pulls out a book. 

Finch turns to his friends, a smug smile on his face, making Specs slap him with his own magazine, and they start another conversation between themselves.

'You're a fucking liar.' Finch scoffs. 'McGonagall would destroy that punk ass bitch.'

Mush gasps, clutching his hand to his chest. _'Don't call Justin Timberlake a punk  ass bitch, he's a pop sensation!'_

'Who's Justin Timberlake?' Specs asks, and Finch rolls his eyes. 

'Purebloods have been robbed of him.' Mush declares, and Spot drops his book, snorting. 

'Y'all talk a lot.' He states, and Specs just smiles ruefully, shrugging his shoulders as if to say 'I guess so.'

Finch tries to involve Spot now that he seems to be wanting to be involved. 'So, Spot, do you know anyone who goes here?'

He scoffs quietly to himself. 'Could say that.' 

'Yeah? Who?' Mush asks, and Spot stays silent for a few seconds.

'Jack Kelly.' He finally says, and Mush turns towards Specs, who's going red. 

Finch is openly laughing. 'No way, you're fucking Jack? He called Specs 'bro' when he tried to ask him out!'

Spot rolls his eyes, smiling. 'I'm not fucking Jack, we're just...acquaintances, who just happen to go to the same muggle world adopting agency.' 

'Oh. Woulda been more exciting if you were fucking him.' Mush says, and Spot just shrugs.

'Sorry to disappoint.'

Specs stretches, and starts talking about Quidditch with Spot and Finch, while Mush stays quiet. He hates quidditch, never been good at it and never cared. Only reason he watches the matches is for Specs and Finch, and he just complains to himself all the way through it, and swears to never go to another one again. But he knows how much quidditch means to his best friends, and how much it means to them that he watches them play, and he's never missed a game.

* * *

The train stops just as Jack is 100% sure David is gonna throw up. 

'I _told_ you you shouldn't read on a moving train.' Katherine huffs, passing David her water. He chugs the bottle, and flings it back to her with his terrible aim, so it hits her shoulder.

'That's only because you think I'm a nerd.' Katherine nods, agreeing with him, as they grab their stuff and head out the train to Hogsmeade station. While waiting for the horse carriages, David disappears to go find Les, and Jack's put in a carriage with Sarah, and a few 3rd years.

'Is fifth year bad?' He asks, and Sarah pulls a face. 'Shit.'

'Yeah.' She giggles. 'Sorry again for kinda shoving my way into your group, Davey offered an-' She starts to apologize, but Jack cuts her off.

'Nah, its cool! Really, it is, you seem like really cool, and you're welcome to join us anytime. I would say you're my favourite Jacobs, but Les will always have a special place in my heart.'

She laughs lightly, shaking her head. 'Sometimes I wonder if you're more of a Jacobs than I am, you're basically _married_ to Davey as it is.' 

Jack scoffs. 'Barely.' The carriages have reached Hogwarts now, and while he helps Sarah down, he spots Davey watching them, so he runs up to him. 'Did you find Les?'

David nods, giving him a tight smile, probably still feeling sick. Jack continues to talk to them as the first years are waiting on Professor McGonagall on the stairs. 'I wish you were sitting at our table, so you could see Race's reaction.'

'My reaction to what?' Race asks, making Jack and Davey turn around quickly, desperately trying to think of an answer.

'Er, your reaction to the new food! I heard they're making it more Italian.' David lies quickly, but Race doesn't buy it, narrowing his eyes at them before going back to walk with Romeo and Katherine.

Jack whistles. 'Nice save.' 

'I try.' Davey winks, walking over to the Ravenclaw table with Sarah, saying hello to Skittery, who saved him a seat. Jack waits up for Race and they walk to the table where Albert and Elmer are waiting for them. They start talking about their summer, and how shit their timetables are this year, when Albert nods towards the front of the hall.

'Hat time, let's see what squirts we get this year.' 

Race smirks. 'I've got a tenner on us getting Les, Elmer's got a fiver on Les being Hufflepuff, while Davey has his dignity on him being Ravenclaw.'

The hat ceremony starts with the first years, then it goes onto the new students in the other years. The Gryffindors clap especially loudly when it's revealed Les is a Gryffindor, Race sublty flipping off Davey from across the hall. Soon enough, all the first years are sorted, and it's time for the new students. Jack is bouncing on his seat, looking at Race every few seconds. 

'Dude, are you about to shit yourself?' He finally asks, exasperated. Sighing, Race picks up his water, taking a sip, when Professor McGonagall shouts out for Spot Conlon. Race chokes on his drink, coughing. 

'You OK, Race?' Elmer asks, concerned. He just nods, his eyes not leaving the sorting hat. Jack's grinning, but luckily Race isn't paying attention to him.

'Oh, definitely a Slytherin. He'll fit right in.' The sorting hat states as soon as he's put in Spot's head, and the Slytherin table cheers, Katherine included. She catches Jack's eye, and he points at Race, who looks completely shocked.

The ceremony is finally over, and they start to eat dinner, laughing and calling out to other members of Gryffindor, and Jack is happy to see that Les has already gotten some friends. 'So Jack,' Albert says, chewing. 'Anything new?'

'Well, I found out I'm less straight than I originally thought, and figured out I was bi.' His friends call out their support, but Elmer looks upset. 

'Now we don't have a Token Straight Friend.' He states, genuinely sad. Race, who has been unsurprising quiet at dinner, speaks up.

'Maybe Sarah's straight?' He  questions, and Jack thinks it over.

'Maybe. At least we know you aren't straight.' He grins. Race goes to say that he's always been openly bi, but his face changes as he connects the dots. 

'You son of a bitch, Kelly. You knew! And Davey! Fuck, did _Kath_ know?' He gasps, while the other two look confused. Jack laughs, nodding. 'I fucking hate you.'

Elmer turns to Albert. 'Do you know what's happening?' He shakes his head, thinking.

'Wait - Did Race fuck someone?' Albert gasps, his face lighting up. Race scowls, shaking his head, and he opens his mouth to defend himself, but Jack beats him to it.

'Let's go check out the dorms and leave Race alone for a bit, ok?'

'You're no fun, Kelly.' Elmer pouts.

* * *

Blink shoves his suitcase under his bed, the first one in his dorm unpacked. He's not especially close with any of the guys in his dorm, because he wasn't exactly the nicest person in first year, and never really talked to them since, so he's not involved in their conversations. 

'Here's your bed, Spot.' Morris Delancey says, pointing towards the empty one. The new kid nods, silent as he unpacks his things. Blink walks past them, ignoring the Delancey brother's obvious snickering at him, and goes towards the great hall, where the full group meets on the first night every year at 8. It's usually only for half a hour, and then they go back to their common rooms, but it's a very loud half a hour.

He meets up with Katherine on the way, who looks slightly stressed. 'Hey Kath, you ok?'

She sighs, running a hand through her hair. 'Yeah, just worried about some of my classes this year. My dad's expecting me to get perfect marks on the OWLS, so I'm gonna be studying the full year. He's pretending like my nervous breakdown didn't happen.' 

Blink scoffs in disgust. 'Fuck your dad, to be honest. You're 2nd in the whole year, and you're not even a Ravenclaw! You need to focus on not overworking yourself this year, because you don't need to. Which is why you're not allowed to study by yourself anymore.'

Katherine opens her mouth to protest, but Blink gives her a look. 'We're all going to take turns on watching you to make sure you're not overdoing it, it's for your own good.' By now they've reached the rest of the group, but Katherine pulls him to the side just a second before they join them. 

'Thank you.' She says softly, and he ruffles her hair. 

'Stealing Jack's girl?' Romeo calls out, and Blink laughs, winking at Katherine.

'I ain't Jack's girl anymore.' Katherine smiles. 

'Also, I'm gay?' Blink questions, but the rest of the group is reacting to Katherine's statement. 

Smalls whistles under her breath. 'No way, how come?' The only two people not here yet are Jack and Romeo, because Jack's talking to his foster mum, who's also the head of Hufflepuff, and Romeo's doing...something.

'We felt more like friends than dating, ya know? He's still one of the closest people in the world to me, and I love him a lot...but not like that.' Katherine explains, fidgeting with her tie. 'So yeah, no one's mad at each other.'

'Ah shit, I thought it was because I cheated on you with 12 people.' Jack smirks, making Katherine roll her eyes. 'Medda says hi to all of you, by the way, and that she hasn't met the new Gryffindor head yet, but he's arriving tomorrow, and writes for The Daily Prophet.' 

Race frowns. 'He sounds shit.' Jack nods, and opens his mouth, but Romeo barreling down the hallway interrupts him. His eyes scan desperately around the room, until they land on Blink.

'Blink, buddy, best friend, love of my life, only person I'd do anything for.' He coos, flinging an arm around his shoulder. Blink sighs deeply. 

'What?'

'Could you possibly come to watch me tryout for Quidditch tomorrow?' Romeo pouts. 

His best friend looks at him in confusion. 'Why do you even want to try out for Quidditch? You hate spo- Oh. _Oh_.' Blink connects the dots, and puts his hand over his mouth, shocked at the lengths Romeo is going to.

'What? Why's he trying out, Blink?' Crutchie asks, confused. Blink lifts his arm slowly to point at Romeo, who's grinning shamelessly. 

'You _thirsty_ bitch.' He chuckles, still in disbelief. 'I'm gonna go just to see you embarrass yourself.' 

The rest of the group were still trying to work out why Romeo's trying out, when Race lets out a huge 'Ohhhhh!', and Blink nods, laughing. 'You're desperate.'

'I don't get it?' Davey turned to Skittery, who shrugged.

* * *

'We've come to take the new kid off your hands!' Finch shouts, sliding around the corner and into the Slytherin common room at 8:45. 'We heard he's a bit of a dick.' Spot snorts, looking at the grinning Hufflepuff. 

'You're not allowed in here. How'd you even get in here?' Oscar scowls, and Finch shrugs, as Specs pokes his head through, the rest of his body hidden behind the door. 

'Blink told the castle the password and let us in, it helped that the castle loves us. And we know, that's why if you shits tell on us, Mush is at the grand hall and will vouch for us not being here. Spot, hurry up, unless you've replaced us and managed to get some friends.' Finch says, ignoring the Delancey's glares.

Spot smirks. 'Well, me and the pirate were thinking of going at it, but I _guess_ I could spare you a hour.'

'And I thought we had something.' The 'pirate' (Probably the guy who let Finch and Specs in) says, not looking up from his book. Spot, Finch and Specs walk out of the Slytherin bit of Hogwarts, and they find Mush waiting for them, hands in his pockets. 

'We lied.' Specs smiles. 'Have you already had a tour of the school?' Spot nods, remembering having to go around with the new Slytherin first years, who are basically just a bunch of edgy kids. 'Fuck, that was all we had planned.'

'Let's just go sit in The Grand Hall or something.' Finch suggests, and they make their way to The Grand Hall, while Specs and Mush talk about the new Hufflepuff in their room, and Finch moans about how hard it's gonna be to see Spot now that he's been placed in Slytherin. Spot's just glad they still want to be friends with him, even if he's not in their house. 

They reach the corridor which leads to The Grand Hall, when 3 people walk out, laughing at the middle boy's story. Spot narrows his eyes, recognizing the middle boy as Racetrack Higgins, and smiles to himself.

'Yeah, fucking Albert then decided to spill the drink on me, because I was in h-' Specs calls out to Race, interrupting his story.

'Hey, Race, you playing for Gryffindor this year? Because you should give up now, Hufflepuff's already filled up their signup sheet.' Specs smiles, and Race laughs, opening his mouth to make a comment, but his eyes meets Spot's, and he panics.

'U-um, yeah, it's just...yeah.' He stutters, and grabs the two people on the side of him, and slides past them. 'Gotta check on... yeah.' 

Finch scrunches up his face. 'What's up with him?' Mush and Specs shrug, while Spot keeps walking on, a tiny smile on his face. 'It's almost as if he was surprised to see someon- Fucking hell Spot, what'd ya do to Race?'

'I'll tell you once we're sitting down.' 

They sit down at the Hufflepuff table, since it's not a mealtime, and the three look at Spot eagerly. 'We made out when my old school played you guys, and I guess he wasn't expecting me here.'

'Shit, was it good? When I made out with him he was kinda bad, but we were third years so it was kinda expected.' Finch asks, ignoring his friends shocked looks.

'Oh yeah, it was good.' Spot grins.

' _You_ made out with _Race_?!'

'What the fuck? Why didn't you tell us?' Mush moans, and Finch shrugs.

'Didn't think it was important.' He fidgets with the end of his robe. 'It was only a one time thing, and I didn't leave him to a stuttering mess, unlike _someone_ here.' Spot winks at him.

Specs sighs. 'Why do you guys have experience? I've never even had a boyfriend.'

Mush nods in agreement. 'Same, all I had was a kiss with a girl in first year. Who then pushed me down a hill.'

'That's because you're an awkward fuck who can't see how easy it'd be to get a boyfriend.' Finch bluntly states to Specs. 'And as for you,' Finch turns to Mush. 'you need to put yourself out there, Mushy. You're a funny guy, just let other people see it.'

'Whatever.' They say in unison, pouting.

'So I checked my timetable, and I have three classes with you guys, History of Magic, Charms and Transfiguration.' Spot says, and their faces light up.

'Nice! I was worried we'd have hardly any, but three's an ok amount.' Specs smiles. 'How many you got with the other houses?'

'I've got 4 with Gryffindor and 2 with Ravenclaw, and I don't know who I've got my other two classes with.'

'Huh, 4 with ol' Gryffie? Isn't that a certain make-outtie's house?' Finch muses, while Mush winces.

'If you ever say make-outtie again I'll never speak to you again.'

'Noticed.'

Specs checks his watch. 'Shit, we should get to our dorms. See you tomorrow Spot.' 

'See you guys.' 

Spot went to his bed without a word to anyone else, because the Delancey's really hate Specs, and seem to hate Spot because of him too, but he did share a smile with Blink, who kept rolling his eye at the brothers. 

At least someone in his house doesn't seem like a complete dick. That's more than what Ilvermorny had. 

Maybe Spot's got a better situation than he's letting himself believe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gryffindor: Jack, Race, Albert, Elmer, Pulitzer (head of house)  
> Hufflepuff: Crutchie, Romeo, Mush, Specs, Finch, Medda (head of house)  
> Ravenclaw: Davey, Smalls, Skittery, Sarah  
> Slytherin: Blink, Spot, Oscar and Morris, Katherine
> 
> this whole chapter is basically just really full of blush i love them

'Race has almost fell into his coffee three times now.' Albert observes, as Race flips him off. 

'Shut up, I barely got any sleep last night.' He moans, resting his head on his hand. 'It was too hot and I forgot that Jack snores.' Jack opens his mouth to argue, but all 3 of the boys glare at him, shutting him up. 

'Yeah ok,' Jack sighs, eating a piece of toast. 'What do we have fi-' Professor McGonagall, the head mistress, clapped her hands for silence, which she got immediately. 

'Normally the new teachers would be announced at the first feast, but Mr Pulitzer only arrived this morning. He will be taking History of Magic, and is the new head of house for Gyffindor. He also writes for the Daily Prophet, and we are honored to have him as a member of our staff.' The man stands up, giving a nod to the students. Professor McGonagall waits for him to make a speech, but he sits back down, so she dismisses the students back to eating. 

'I was right. He looks like a prick.' Race smirks, but Jack is pale. 'Whoa, you alright?'

Jack starts to stand up from the table. '-'m fine,' He mutters. 'I need to go see Katherine.'

'Forget you guys broke up?' Elmer asks, amused, but Jack's gone. 'He's pretty desperate to go see Plumber, I thought he got over the breakup.

Race gives him a look. 'They dated for 3 years. Jack's not over her, trust me. I don't even think _she's_ over _him_ , which is why their breakup doesn't make any sense.' 

'Maybe one of them actually cheated?' Albert suggests, and Race considers it, shrugging. He still doesn't get it, but maybe Crutchie or Davey knows why, so he can ask one of them later. He's got bigger problems, anyways.

'I can't believe we've got 4 classes with Slytherin this year.' Elmer pouts. 'I can't stand the Delancey's.' Race nods, sipping his coffee.

'But at least Blink's in there... and Kath.... shit.' Albert says, and Race rolls his eyes.

'Jack's a big boy, he can handle it. But I agree, being with Slytherin is going to be shit.' For completely different reasons than the other two, Race would rather have the most classes with literally any other house. Especially since from the glances he's sneaked over to that table, Spot and Blink are getting along.

It's not like he didn't _enjoy_ making out with Spot or anything, it's just he wasn't expecting him to show up at Hogwarts. Usually when he makes out with people, they sort out where they stand before it, and it's only once. However, Spot grabbed him during the halftime break in quidditch and slammed him into a wall without a word. The only reason he figured out Spot's name is because he asked Jack, knowing that Jack is the most dense out of his friends, and wouldn't think anything of it. 

So he has no control right now, and it's fucking scary. However, he has no time to dwell on it, because Jack sits back down at the table and grabs a piece of toast calmly. The three raise his eyebrows at him, and he slowly stops eating. 

'What?'

'Why'd you have to talk to Katherine?' Albert asks. 

'Oh, just about some classes.' He says casully. 'Anyways, what we got first?'

Elmer eyes him suspiciously. 'History of Magic, with Ravenclaw.' He just nods in acknowledgement, finishing his breakfast.

'Nice, Davey and Skittery will be with us, and Skittery's the only person who lets me cheat off on them without blackmail.' Jack says, and Race scoffs. 

'What does David blackmail you with, no sex?' Jack glares at Race, while the other two snicker. Race kept smiling at Jack, sipping his coffee.

Jack turns towards Race, a smile on his face. 'We've got Potions in the second half of second period, right? Don't we have that with Slytherin?' 

'I hate you.'

'Why doesn't Race like Slytherin?' Elmer, who is not the best at catching on to things, asks. By now, Albert's managed to work out a little bit of the situation, so he shares a smile with Jack, making Race put his head on the table in defeat.

* * *

Mr Pulitzer is now 10 minutes late, or 11 minutes and 13 seconds, as Davey's watch says. The classroom isn't as loud as people would expect, because they're all talking quietly among themselves.

Too bad Race is broke right now.

'I've got 5 muggle pounds on him telling us about how he wants us to 'knuckle down this year, because I've been told you're a good class.' Word for word.' He announces, and Davey rolls his eyes.

'25 knuts on him saying that he's not like other teachers.' Albert smirks, and Race pulls out his tiny betting notebook from his pocket and starts scribbling down the bets that both Ravenclaws and Gryffindors are telling him. 

After about 3 minutes of quick betting, Smalls decides to place her odds. '3 muggle pounds on him saying 'What do we have here?' whenever someone asks a intelligent que-'

'Well, what do we have here?'

The two houses turned around to face Mr Pulitzer for the first time. His face is stern, and they settle in their seats instantly, Race shoving his notebook back into his pocket hastily. Mr Pulitzer walks to the front desk and gives a sour smile to the class. 'Welcome to History of Magic, I'm going to go over the course booklet. Mr Kelly, if you may.' He addresses Jack, nodding towards the neat pile of booklets he brought with him. 

'How'd he know your name?' Elmer hisses, leaning over Race, but Jack doesn't reply, just nods meekly and goes to hand them out. 

The rest of the class is really boring, because the reason Race gets through most of his classes is because of Jack whispering to him, but he is completely silent in this class. He doesn't even talk to _Davey_. That never happens. 

To say Race is pissed is an understatement.

'How's your new head of house?' Blink calls out, as the Slytherins enter the classroom. Katherine walks straight to the empty seat next to Jack, and they mutter seriously between themselves. Leaving the two seats next to Race empty.

'He's a dickhead.' Elmer says plainly. Blink shrugs, and him and Spot make their way to them. 

Blink goes to sit next to Race, but he stops at the last second to let Spot in. 'Anxiety, I kinda like to have a quick exit, and not have to push past people.' Spot gives Blink a understanding nod, and takes the seat next to Race.

'Hi Spot.' Jack calls over, smirking. Spot gives him a salute and a smile, while Race becomes very interested in the list of potions on the wall. 'How's your family placement?'

'Bit crazy, but they're good people.' He shrugs, and Jack nods.

'That's good, you know who's family that reminds me of? Race's. They're pretty crazy.' 

Race decides that Jack is now is dead to him.

'Really?' He can feel Spot looking at him, and he coughs awkwardly.

'Yeah, we're big Italian wizard family. Basically a sitcom.' Spot raises an eyebrow, before turning to talk to Blink. Race stares straight ahead of him, ignoring Jack and Katherine's snickers. Albert's trying to explain it to Elmer, but he's still not getting it. 

'I'll bet on the fact that Race embarrasses himself 3 more times in front of Spot today.' Jack whispers, loud enough that Race can hear him, and Race glares. 

'I want today to be fucking over.' He mumbles, just as the potion teacher walks in. Albert glances at Elmer, who is talking about a hot Ravenclaw in the year above, not noticing Albert's pained expression, and shares a look with Race.

'Me too.'

* * *

 Mush adjusts himself on the bench, snuggling into his jacket. Of course Hufflepuff tryouts are on the coldest day of the month. Specs and Finch are already warming up and chatting happily to their team mates, but every once in a while they give Mush a little wave, which he returns with a hint of bitterness. 

Seems he's not the only one bitter, as Romeo and one of his friends, Blink,  are walking towards the pitch, Romeo carrying a broom. Mush can't hear what they're saying, but Blink looks exasperated, and Romeo looks stubborn. After a few seconds, Blink shuffles over to the bench in front of Mush, muttering angrily about 'stupid fucking thirsty best friends' and 'fuckin' wind.'

'You got forced to come too?' Mush calls out, a smile on his face. He's gotta keep his promise about putting himself out there more, and an angry Slytherin is obviously the easiest target, right?

'Yep, it's colder than a frozen tit today.' Blink huffs, and Mush laughs, going through his bag. 

'Trust me, I know. Been doing this for years, and I always bring spare scarfs.' He pulls out his Hufflepuff scarf, patting the space next to him. 'I'll let you borrow this scarf if you keep me company, tryouts are boring.' 

Blink smiles at him, moving to sit next to him. 'Thanks. Good thing this is the only quidditch thing I'm gonna have to go to, Romeo's not gonna make the team.' 

'Why's he trying out? He's never seemed that interested in quidditch before.' Mush asks, and Blink hesitates.

'Long story.' He finally answers, and Mush shrugs, deciding not to push it. They sit in silence for a while, just watching the game. Mush sneaks glances over at Blink every once in a while, and he wonders why he's not playing, because he looks pretty muscular compared to Mush. 

Is staring at someone's muscles usually how you start friendships? Mush is hoping for a yes.

'You should try out, you look like you could be good.' Mush says, trying to word it in the best way he can think of. Blink laughs, pointing to his eyepatch. 

'It's hard to focus on ball games with my eye, I mostly just lift weights.' He explains, and Mush blushes, feeling like an idiot. 

'You could imitate the other team?' He suggests, hoping Blink takes it as a joke. 

'Aw yes! I'll tell them that if they don't let me win my pirate dad will beat them up.' Blink says excitedly, and Mush laughs. 'I'm gonna start a quidditch team for people with disabilities and mental illnesses, it's gonna be popping.'

Mush bursts out laughing again. 'Did you seriously just say popping? What is this, 2003? Shit, and I was gonna join your quidditch team, I'm your only member so far.' 

'Shut up!' Blink laughs, giving Mush a tiny shove. 'People still say popping! Or maybe they don't, I don't know. I spent the summer in the countryside, I'm feeling a little bit disconnected, don't call me out on it.' 

'The countryside? What'd you do there?' Mush asks, wrinkling his nose.

Blink lets out some air through his mouth, making a face. 'Fuck all, to be honest. Did learn a bit more guitar, so that was good. The relatives I stayed with are homophobic, so it could of gone better, but oh well.' 

'Fuck them, they probably did half the animals in the countryside, I doubt they can judge you for liking boys.' Mush declares, and Blink chuckles, shaking his head. 'Are you good at guitar?'

'That's what I said! I'm fairly ok, I guess, but I'm self taught, so I don't have anything to hold myself to.' He admits sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. 

'You'll have to show me sometime.' Mush blurts out, before he can think, and he silently screams at himself inside of his head. Why'd he even say that? Him and Blink are barely friends, he's gonna think Mush is some sort of weirdo who has n- 

'Sure, anything for a fan.' Blink replies causally, winking. Mush laughs, trying to calm himself down. 'Find me when you wanna hear.' 

'I'll take you up on that.' Mush smiles. Blink smiles back at him, and they go back to watching the game together. A few minutes later, Romeo walks back up the steps, holding his broom and looking... not disappointed, exactly, but calm, which even from how little Mush knows about him, isn't what he usually is like.

'I'm the 3rd reserve, so it could be worst.' He tells Blink, and he shrugs. 

'Goody, can we go? I'm still freezing.' Romeo nods, and Blink gets up, but turns to look at Mush. 'See you at our quidditch team meeting? I'll bring my pirate dad.' Mush laughs, nodding. 

Mush watches the rest of the tryouts with a smile on his face, until about 5 minutes before Specs and Finch are due to finish, when his face slips.

'Asshole stole my scarf.'

* * *

The first meeting of the chess club was always Davey's favourite. He doesn't talk to most of the members outside of the club, due to the fact they're all in different friend groups, so it's mostly full of people's stories about their summer, and it gives chess a lighter tone to it. Not that Davey doesn't love the seriousness of chess, he just gets stressed out when it gets too competitive. 

He walked into the main hall with a smile on his face, in the best mood he's been in since school started. 

Until he got pulled into a cupboard. 

'What th-' He starts, but Katherine shoves a hand over his mouth. 'I can't believe you pulled me back into the closet.' David says, muffled. 

Katherine pulls her hand down, her face serious. 'Stop joking, Davey! You know why I pulled you in here, we need to talk.' Davey feels his good mood sink into his shoes, along with his stomach. 

'I don't want to talk about it.'

'You need to, you've kept it covered up for long enough. I ca-'

'Kath, I've put you in a bad enough situation already, don't make me feel anymore guilty.' He whispers, feeling his face heat up. 

She falters, probably not expecting the guilt card, but continues with her speech. 'I can help you, you don't have to go through it alone.' 

Davey scoffs, as the feelings he's been hiding surface. 'You can't do _shit_. You can't stop me having a crush on my best friend for 4 years, and you can't stop the fact that even thought you broke up with him, you're gonna be back together in a few weeks. So drop it. I've hid it for this long, I can do it for more. Stop rubbing what you have in my face, he's so in love with you he can't see straight.'

'I'm not trying to rub it in your face!'

' _Really_?' Davey laughs bitterly. 'Do you know how many dates I third wheeled? Do you know how much advice I had to give him about you? You suddenly deciding to become a martyr and break up with him for me, so all he talks about in summer is _you._ '

'That's not fair.' Katherine says softly.

'I really couldn't care less at this point.' Davey mutters, opening the closet door and walking into the hallway, leaving Katherine sitting on a turned over bucket. 

'Hey, Davey!' Someone shouts, catching up with him. 'The gryffindor quidditch team is gonna be the best this year, shoulda watched me try out.' Jack smiles brightly, and David returns it, thoughts of his fight with Katherine falling out of his head.

'Had chess club.' He shrugs, and Jack gasps, mock-heartbroken. 

'Is this... betrayal?' Davey shoves his best friend, snorting. 

Jack pushes him back, laughing with him. 'Dork. Are you coming to watch the overnight quidditch match tomorrow night? We're playing with the Ravenclaw team, so I could use you to cheer me on, because Slytherin and Hufflepuff together will actually be a hard competition.' 

'I don't know...' David trails off, and Jack rolls his eyes, because Davey does this every year. 

'We won't get caught, we never have. C'mon, It'll be a laugh.' Jack says, bumping David lightly. 'Crutchie needs some company on the bench.'

David sighs, rubbing his hand through his hair. 'Fine, I'll go. But if we get caught I'm claiming you peer pressured me.'

Jack looks around suspiciously, before opening half of his robe so Davey could see it. 'Wanna buy some drugs?' Jack whispers, making David laugh, pushing Jack around like he always does, ignoring Katherine watching them from down the hall.

Truthfully, David doesn't blame Katherine. He blames Jack for not noticing how in love David is with him, but he can't blame him, because he's had a girlfriend for all the years Davey liked him, so David stepped back.

Except now he doesn't. And he's not straight. 

But him and Katherine will get back together, and things will become the same as normal. Unless Katherine tells Jack about David's crush, and Jack never speaks to him again. 

So you can't really blame him for not going after Jack. 

'See you there?' Jack confirms, and Davey nods. 

'See you.'

* * *

'Dickhead.'

'Assface.'

'Gerbil muncher.'

'Hold on,' Finch sits up. 'That's too far. I love Nugget.' Specs just shrugs, leaning further back onto his bed. 

'Mush seemed happy today.' Spot says, who is currently on Mush's bed. 'Like, more than usual. Also, dude, Nugget?'

'I was 11.' Finch defends himself, but Specs mouths 15 at Spot, who snickers. 'And I didn't notice him acting any weirder.' 

Specs rolls his eyes, shoving a sweet into his mouth. 'That's because you were staring at Romeooooo.'

Finch smiles un-apologetically, flinging a pillow at Specs. 'Fuck off, he got hot in summer, even you can admit that.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Specs demands, lifting his head up. 'I'm just as gay as you are.'

'Yeah, but you don't like to point out cute guys.' 

'So? Spot doesn't point out cute guys.' 

'I've known Spot for 2 days, and he has a thing with Race, it'd be unfaithful.'

Spot lifts his hand up. 'I resent that. I don't tie myself down, I just made out with him once.'

'Is it gonna happen again?' Finch asks. Spot shrugs, propping himself up on his elbow.

'I dunno. Are you guys playing in that overnight quidditch match?' Spot opens a can of juice that Finch brought with him and chugs it.

Specs flings Finch's pillow back to him. 'Oh yeah, we always play. You're gonna be on our team, so you better be practicing tomorrow.'

'Don't worry about me,' Spot winks. 'I'm made of muscle.' 

'True.' Mush says, walking into the Hufflepuff bedroom. 'How'd Spot get in?'

'Told him the password, no ones gonna care.' Specs says dismissively. Finch doesn't exactly think that's accurate, but he doubts no one is going to argue with Specs, so it doesn't really matter.

'Cool.' Mush shrugs, and instead of joining the rest, he grabs his jacket. The three on the beds exchange eye contact. 

'Where you off too?'

Mush puts on his coat, ignoring the suspicious glances he's getting. 'Out.'

Specs crosses his arms. 'Where abouts?'

'None of your business.'

'Don't use that tone with me!' Finch and Spot lock eyes, both trying to laugh as quietly as possible.

'What are you, my dad?' Mush scowls, flipping off Specs as he walks down the corridor. 

The three sit in silence for a full 30 seconds, but Finch breaks it. 

'Romeo _did_ get fucking fit, admit.' 

'Dude, just shut up. We live with him.'

'Makes it easier.'

'Jesus christ.'

* * *

'This where you usually show off your guitar skills?' Mush asks, as they settle down at the edge of the lake. Blink shrugs, his fingers shaking nervously as he tunes his guitar, but he hopes Mush doesn't notice. 

'Only the _true_ fans get the lake show. The fake ones get one in the middle of Charms if the teacher won't shut up and I'm bored.' Mush giggles, as Blink finishes tuning up.

'What can you play?'

'I can play wonderwall, and I can do most of the Beatles songs. Oh, and The Climb by Miley Cyrus. Classic. Any requests?'

Mush rolls his eyes like it's obvious. 'I'm gay, of course I want Miley.' Blink laughs, and he starts to play the song. He really only learned this for his little sister, but hey, it comes in handy. Some of the chords were wrong, but Mush didn't seem to mind, as he quietly taps along with it, and looks really impressive by the end of the song.

'You're so good.' Mush smiles shyly. 'And you taught yourself that?' 

Blink nods, hiding a smile. 'Thanks, and yeah, I did. Took me fucking forever thought.' 

'Well, it was worth it.' Mush declares. 'Are you watching the overnight quidditch match tomorrow?' Blink nods again. 'Nice, we could be like those muppet guys who make fun of the other muppets.'

'I'd be up for that, I used to do that all the time when I played quidditch, I thought they were gonna push me off my broom.' 

'You used to play quidditch?' Mush asks, and Blink shuffles uncomfortably, so he tries to backtrack. 'Um, you don't have to answer if you don't wanna.' 

Blink coughs. 'No, it's ok, I don't mind. I lost my eyesight in the summer going into second year, but I played quidditch in first year. I wasn't the best player, but it was good fun. So, um, yeah.'

'I'm sorry...' Mush trails off, not really sure what to say, but Blink waves it off quickly. 

'Why don't you try out? I'd be your very own cheerleader, I used to be able to do the splits when I was 6.'

 Mush laughs his tiny laugh again, which makes Blink smile softly at him instinctively. 'As tempting as that is, it's more Finch and Specs' thing. I think I'll stick with working part-time in the library.'

'That sounds really boring.' Blink scrunches his nose up. 

Mush nods in agreement. 'Yeah, it kinda is.' He admits. 'But I like it, it's calming. Just like tonight.' He nods towards the dark sky, as it's half 9. 'Nighttime's my favourite time, ya know? It's really peaceful and beautiful. Sorry, that was really gay.' 

'Hey, I'm really gay, I can't judge. And you're right, it's nice.' Blink says softly, and Mush turns to smile at him, before looking back at the stars. After about 10 more minutes of comfortable silence, with them watching the stars, Blink checks his watch.

'We should probably get back if we wanna make it in time for curfew.' Mush nods, and they make their way back up to the school. 'Want me to walk you to your dorm?' Mush shakes his head, but remembers something at the last second.

'You still have my scarf!' He points at Blink accusingly, but he's got a smile on his face.

'Oh shit, do I? I'll give you it back tomorrow, I promise.' He swears, and Mush just laughs quietly. 

'Thank you. Night, Blink.'

'Night.' 

While he's getting ready for bed, he hears the Delancey brothers making some noise, and goes out the bathroom to see what's happening. 'Why'd you have a Hufflepuff scarf, cyclops?'

'I'm surprised you know what that is, Oscar.' Blink replies dryly. 'And someone let me borrow it, and I forgot to give it back.' 

Oscar just glares at him, too tired to argue, and flings the scarf back onto Blink's bed, where he carefully folds it and places it on the table next to his bed. Spot eyes the scarf curiously, but doesn't comment on it. 

He'll give it to Mush at the nighttime game tomorrow night. It'll be the easiest time. 

It also gives him an excuse to talk to Mush.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any spelling mistakes or grammer mistakes ill fix in the morning, i just really wnated to get another chapter out lmao. hope you enjoyed :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gryffindor: Jack, Race, Albert, Elmer, Pulitzer (head of house)  
> Hufflepuff: Crutchie, Romeo, Mush, Specs, Finch, Medda (head of house)  
> Ravenclaw: Davey, Smalls, Skittery, Sarah, Denton (head of house)  
> Slytherin: Blink, Spot, Oscar and Morris, Katherine, Snyder (head of house)

'So wait,' Sarah asks, interrupting the casual conversations. 'What's happening tonight?'

'Overnight quidditch match. It's a tradition that's been happening ever since I was in second year, and it's only our year that take part in it, even thought the other years know about it. Basically, someone in each dorm sets an alarm for 12:30am, and we're in the quidditch pitch and ready for 1am. It's so fun, none of the teachers know about it, it's just us in our pjs and having a good time.' Jack explains. 

Sarah nods thoughtfully, munching on her apple. 'Cool. I'll come watch, what are the teams?'

'Raven and Gryffindor vs Slytherin and Hufflepuff, which means I'll be against Katherine.'

'Didn't you two break up?' Smalls asks, shrugging a loose braid behind her ear. 

'Yeah,' Jack takes a bite of his sandwich. 'For now.'

Race scoffs, looking at the view from the hill the four are eating their lunch at. 'Think you'll get back together?'

'We will.' Jack says confidently. Sarah rolls her eyes, and Race catches her glance, and they're both thinking the same thing. 

'Er, Jack, what if you two don't get back together? You gonna start seeing other people?' Sarah asks subtly, but Race couldn't help himself.

'Like a brown haired Jewish Ravenclaw wizard who happens to be one of your best friends?' He quips. Smalls smacks his arm quickly, while Jack glares at him.

'That's not funny, me and David are just friends, and I'm going to get Katherine back anyways. You're only saying that because we both like boys. We both don't think of each other like that.' He says, and Race raises his eyebrows.

'Uh huh,' He mutters. 'That's the _only_ reason I'm saying that.' Smalls hits his arm again, frowning. 'Anyways, do you think the match tonight will be good? I'm kinda worried.'

Jack waves away his comment. 'It'll be fine, it has been for the last 3 years. Stop worryin', we've got Davey to do that for us.' Smalls sighs. 

'Race's got a point, Jack.' She says. 'It's the first year of the Delancey's playing, so we don't know what they're gonna be like without teachers.' 

'You guys need to stop thinking so much.' Jack says offhandedly. 'I said it'll be fine; it'll be fine.' 

Sarah stands up, brushing stray grass off her robe. 'I'll see you guys later, I'm gonna head to talk to David.' Smalls manages to mumble out that she'll join Sarah through a mouthful of sandwich, as she needs to go to the library, and they walk inside the school together.

'Are you playing tonight?' Sarah asks, and Smalls shakes her head, grinning ruefully. 

'I sprained my leg during the break, I'm not supposed to do any sports this term.' She explains, and Sarah gives her a sympathetic smile, which she shrugs off. 'I don't mind, my Ravenclaw teammates will still do good.' 

'Can't argue with that, our team's pretty good. Skittery's a fucking wildcard in games.' Sarah says, making Smalls giggle as she walks into the library, leaving Sarah to walk to the Ravenclaw common room by herself, where she assumes David will be.

Katherine is sitting on the windowsill, staring blankly at her notebook. Sarah gently taps her on the shoulder, and hops up besides her, as she looks completely out of it. 'You ok?'

'Do you think Jack and I will get back together?' Katherine asks quickly, turning to Sarah, who blinks in surprise. 

'Um, sure? Is that what you want?'

Katherine sighs, obviously not contented with that answer. 'Yes? No? I don't know. I tried to do the right fucking thing and yet Davey called me the bad person for it.' She mumbles. 

'Woah, David's involved? What happened, Kath?' Sarah asks, rubbing Katherine's back in support. Katherine's eyes move around the room, and she pulls Sarah into a nearby janitor's closet. 

Katherine gives an apologetic smile, seeing Sarah's confused expression. 'Sorry, I just couldn't tell you out there. The reason me and Jack broke up _wasn't_ because I didn't love him.'

'Then what was the reason?'

'Um... Davey?' She says this like it's a question, and Sarah tries to content the dots.

'Oh my god...does Jack like David?' She gasps, but Katherine shakes her head. 

'No... I found out about his crush on Jack.'

Sarah stares at Katherine, unimpressed. 'Like, just when you broke up with him? You didn't know before that?'

'No, I didn't.'

'Man, you're unobservant.' Sarah says bluntly, and decides to fill Katherine in a little bit. 'Everyone knows except for Jack, and maybe Crutchie? I don't know, but most of us know. It's really obvious. Besides, David told me last year anyways, but I knew before that. I'm guessing you didn't know because you were dating Jack. But why did you break up with Jack for David?'

Katherine bits her lip. 'Because I figured Davey deserves a chance?'

'Well now Jack's just gonna be hung over you for the full year, and David is going to have to help him win you back. So maybe David has a point, Kath.' Sarah knows a little bit about Katherine, and figures that honestly is the best way to go, instead of sugar-coating the truth. Katherine lets out a groan, and sinks to the floor.

'Why do both the Jacobs' win arguments over me in this closet?' She questions, and Sarah opens her mouth to reply, but is interrupted by the door opening, and the light of the corridor flooding in. 

'Get out the closet, and put whatever pieces of clothing that you may or may not have lost.' The voice says, as the person faces the corridor, while Sarah and Katherine file out, faces red. 

The new Gryffindor head of house, Mr Pulitzer glares at Sarah, who visibly shrinks, and his eyes move onto Katherine, who looks pale. He looks taken aback, which probably means he's a homophobe, and although her and Katherine weren't doing anything, it still makes Sarah annoyed.

'Well...you girls get where you were going.' He says uncertainly, and Katherine nods meekly, and sprints down the corridor, almost dropping her notebook. Sarah smiles sweetly at the teacher.

'Of course, Mr Putlizer. After all, I've got a lesbian orgy to go to, and they hate when I'm late.' She turns and walks calmly down the same corridor where Katherine sprinted, ignoring the teacher shouting for her name.

Once she reaches the common room, she easily spots David sitting by himself.

'How are your classes?' Sarah asks, plopping next to David and taking the book out of his hands. 

Her brother makes a small attempt to grab it back, but gives up after a few tries. 'Okay.' 

'Always one for conversations .' She smirks, but leans closer to him to whisper something. 'So Katherine finally worked it out?'

David bits his lip, nodding. 'Now the only people who don't are Jack, Elmer and Crutchie. It's getting pretty ridiculous.' 

Sarah nods, trying to hide her laughter. 'I don't get why you don't just _go_ for it! He's single, and while he might still like Katherine, he could use a distraction.' She prods him gently, trying to cheer him up, but he slumps further into his seat.      

'Oh _boy,_ a rebound!' David grins gleefully. 'Every gay boy's dream!' 

'It was only a suggestion, it might help you get over him.' Sarah rolls her eyes, as David's face goes back into his scowl.

'Yeah, by him breaking my heart and never speaking to me again. Hold on, I'm gonna go and fuck him right now!' 

Sarah lifts her hands up in defeat. 'Ok, ok, I give up. Stay bitter like your coffee.' David grabs his book back, a smug smile on his face. 

'I'll change my coffee order when you change Les' rabbit's cage.'

Sarah makes a face. 'No.' 

'Then deal with my fucking coffee.'

* * *

'I fucking hate quidditch.' Smalls shivers, her bunny pj's not being very warm. Race smiles sweetly at her, as he zips up the jumper he grabbed along with his shoes.

'Can't relate.'

'Fuck you.' Smalls shivers again, and goes off the pitch to find a seat on one of the benches. Race shakes his legs, trying to warm up. 

'Ready to lose?' A smug voice calls out, and Race snaps his head around to look for whoever said that. Spot Conlon is smirking at him, holding his broom in his left hand.

Race smirks back, as he raises one of his eyebrows. 'I think I should be saying that to you, actually. Gryffindor is yet to lose one of these, no matter what house we're with.'

'That so? Always gotta be a first for everything.' Jack pushes Race lightly with his free hand, as he's bending down to tie his lace.

'Stop canoodling with the enemy.' He sighs. 

Race and Spot look at Jack in confusion. 'Who the fuck still says canoodling?' Spot scoffs.

'Also, we're insulting each other?'

Specs and Finch shout Spot over to the over side of the pitch, so he salutes them and walks away. Jack gives Race a small smile. 'What?' Race asks defensively. He _really_ hate that Jack knows about him and Spot.

'Nothing, the match is about to start.' Jack finishes with his lace, and they walk over to the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw team, which is all of the members from their year, and some reserves to make up for the missing members. 

Jack claps his hands, and there's a quick talk about strategy, and then the game starts. Despite the other team having Specs, who is known for being a excellent quidditch player, Race's team quickly gains a lead over the others, who are starting to get annoyed; Slytherins especially. 

'Fuck!' Spot swears, as Albert scores another goal. 'They're bleeding us dry.' Race, hearing this, smiles triumphantly and flies next to him. 

'I told you, we're good.' Spot glares at him, and the two Delancey brothers fly up to them. 

'What's the new plan?' Oscar asks, and Spot takes another look at Race boasting. 

'Do whatever you need to do to win.' He mutters, and the two nod, flying back off to their positions. Race's smile fades, but the Delancey's aren't going to go too far, otherwise Spot wouldn't of told them to do that, so he also flies back and the game starts again. 

Elmer is small, but fast. Him and Albert have that in common, which is why they're both really good Chasers. Elmer quickly catches the ball and takes it up the court, swiftly avoiding Morris, who is a Beater, and he gets to the goalpost which Oscar, the Keeper, is blocking.  

Elmer goes to throw the ball, but instead of Oscar staying at the goal, he goes towards Elmer and bumps him, almost making Elmer fall off his broom, but catches his grip at the last second. 'The fuck?' Specs shouts. 'Someone stop them!'

The two struggle, Elmer trying to get Oscar off of him, and their brooms start flying closer to the ground, when Elmer loses his grip and falls off. The players fly to the ground after him, while everyone watching are freaking out and trying to get to them aswell. 

'Holy shit!' Katherine shouts, as she jumps off her broom and run towards Elmer, who is unconscious, avoiding his bent arm. Albert runs towards them, and kneels besides Elmer.

'Someone get a teacher!' He shouts, his voice raw. The players stand around uncertainly, and Albert turns to them, his eyes red. 'Just get a fucking teacher!' Jack runs off, and most of them stand around Elmer. 

Finch roughly shoves Oscar. 'Why the fuck did you do that, you dick? Elmer could _die_!' He demands, as Morris pushes him away.

'Get the fuck away from my brother.' Finch scoffs, as he takes a step closer to them.

'Yeah? Well, your brother's a fucking psycopa-' He's interrupted by Morris punching him in the face, and he goes to take a swing at him, but Specs pulls him back, as Mush and another boy reaches the pitch to help him.

'Don't hold him back, those fucking pricks deserve what they get.' A Ravenclaw, Skittery, shouts. Race joins in, and they're all shouting angrily at each other when Professor McGonagall arrives, along with Nurse Pomfrey.

'Silence!' She shouts, as the crowd parts to let her and the nurse into Elmer. Nurse Pomfrey tuts anxiously, and uses a stretcher to lift him up, and carries him to the medical bay with magic, raising an eyebrow but not protesting when Albert follows. 

'As for the rest of you,' Professor McGonagall says, her voice as firm as steel. 'Go to your dormitories at _once_. We will deal with you in the morning.' She leaves, following the nurse and Elmer, and the group silently make their way to the dorms.

Just before they make it into the school, Race grabs Spot's arm and pulls him to the side. 'What the fuck?' Spot asks, rubbing his arm. Race glares at him. 

'This is your fault. You're the one who told the Delancey's to 'do whatever they had to', and apparently that involved almost killing fucking Elmer!' Race explodes.

Spot scowls at him. 'I didn't know they'd do _that_! You can't blame me for this! If anything, it's your fucking fault, you were being an asshole.'

'Don't, Elmer's my fucking friend and I'm _worried_ about him!' Truthfully, Race didn't think it was completely Spot's fault, but he thinks it's partly him, and Spot's easy to blame. 

They stay silent, breathing heavily as they glare at each other in anger. 

Looking back, Race thinks his mistake was when he looked down at Spot's lips instead of his eyes. 

Their lips connect harshly, and it manages to take Race's mind off of Elmer, but the way Spot was holding his hips helped with that too. 

* * *

 

Specs watches in disgust as Finch puts tuna on his toast, Mush staring along with him in mutual horror. Shuddering, Specs takes a sip of his water, tapping his fingers on the table nervously. The people playing at the game have their meeting with Professor McGonagall straight after breakfast, and Specs doesn't know what to expect. 

Finch is sporting a black eye after the punch Morris gave him, and at the Slytherin table, the two brothers are more separated from the rest than usual, and Specs is glad. Fucking assholes. Even Mush looks stressed, and he barely ever gets worried.

'Um...' A voice says uncertainly, and the three turn around. Blink, a Slytherin, is holding a Hufflepuff scarf. 'I was gonna give you it yesterday, but with all that happened...' He trails off, as Mush takes the scarf with a quiet thanks. 

'How's Elmer?' Finch asks sympathetically. 

'Doing ok, broken arm and a concussion. Albert's with him right now, and he says that him and Elmer won't be at the meeting, but I'll be going up to tell them what happens after. Anyways, I should get back. See you guys.'

'Bye, Blink.' Specs smiles, and as soon as he's gone both Finch and him turn towards Mush. 

'You never told us that you talked to Blink!' Finch says, offended. Mush shrugs, as he takes a bite of his toast. 

'We talked at the tryouts, and we sat together at the game. So what?' 

'So what?' Finch repeats, eyes wide. 'You talked to a fucking cute guy _by yourself_ and you didn't tell us? Mush, this is life changing! Is he gay? Do you guys have a good time? Do you find him cute?'

'Come on, Mush, we could use the distraction.' Specs says encouragingly.

Mush puts his head on his hands while Finch bombards him with questions. ' _This_ is why I didn't tell you guys. Yes, he is gay, yes, I do like spending time with him, and _yes_ , I find him cute. Are you happy now?' Mush says unhappily, and Specs shoots Finch a look.

'Now that Mush is getting some ass, it's about time Specs does.' Finch says, and Mush smile, glad at the change of attention. 'So I came up with a plan.'

'You can't _plan_ me a boyfriend.' Specs sighs, but Finch taps the side of his head. 

'Ah, but I did.' He leans further in, so they can talk without people overhearing them. 'Ask Romeo for help getting a boyfriend, someone told me that he was the one who got Bill and Darcy together, and Boots and Hot-Shot. Also, isn't he close with Blink? But yeah, ask him, and don't forget to mention your hot and available best friend.' 

Specs rolls his eyes. 'So you want me to get Romeo's help...because you like him?' Finch nods, smiling. 

'It's the perfect plan!' Mush and Specs chuckle, but their laughter dies when Professor McGonagall shouts that breakfast is over, and the fifth years who were playing quickly make their way to her office.

'Hey.' Spot says, as he catches up with them. 'You guys scared?'

'I'm fucking terrified.' Specs admits, and Finch nods in agreement. 

Spot shrugs, completely calm. 'Can't be too bad, now that we know Elmer's alright.' Racetrack looks at them for a second warily, but turns back to his group once he catches Specs watching him. 

'Dude, you've got no idea.' Finch shakes his head, a tiny smile on his face. The group's reached the office now, and Jack Kelly knocks on the door. 

'Come in.' 

They all huddle into the office, and Professor McGonagall glares at them coldly. 'The amount of stupidity and carelessness that was last night is unacceptable. You should all consider yourselves lucky that Elmer Hastings will be ok. How he fell off his broom, he refuses to say, so the matter is dropped.' Morris visibly looks relieved, while Oscar shrinks at people glaring at him. Professor McGonagall continues on regardless.

'However, the fact that you all were out of your dormitories using school equipment, and playing a dangerous sport without supervision cannot go unpunished. I have talked to Mr Pulitzer, and he admits that he will have to cover this issue in the Daily Prophet, as the public deserves to know about the dangers of quidditch, and why it should be banned. And because of your little tryst, our school will be setting the example.'

'From this moment onward, quidditch is banned.'

Specs feels the colour drain from his face, while Finch besides him gasps. Quidditch is Specs' future, the thing that sets him apart from everyone else, that would guarantee a good university and job, and now it's gone. 

'You all may go.'

'Professor, you can't just ban quidditch.' Jack Kelly blurts out, but she turns to him.

'I can, and I have, Mr Kelly. Nothing you will say can change that. Now go. The rest of the school will find out at lunch.' They leave the office, with Finch mutter about how unfair this is. 

'This sucks!' Katherine Plumbers says, and there's mumers of agreement. Jack puts an arm on her shoulder, but she shrugs it off quickly. 

'Hey, we can fight this, right?' He asks, looking around the group, while Spot scoffs. 'Got something to say, Conlon?'

'Yeah, actually.' He smirks. 'We just got caught breaking like 10 rules, and that a kid got hurt, and you think we can fight this? Not to mention, our teacher is writing about this in The Daily Prophet, so we're screwed.' Specs wants to argue with Spot, he really does, but he's got a point.

Jack huffs, as he shuffles on his feet. 'Well we can't just do _nothing_! Getting quidditch back is gonna be tough, but we need to. What'd you think, Specs? You're the best player here.' All eyes turn to Specs, who is angry and tired and just wants to burst into tears.

'I don't know,' He admits. 'But if you guys wanna fight this, then I'm with you. I need quidditch. So is Spot, he's just a dick.' Spot shrugs.

'Can't hate me because I'm right.'

'Oh shut up!' Race sighs loudly. 'Can't you be fucking positive for once?' Spot looks surprised, but it shuts him up, which is a success. 'As for fighting the ban, let's figure that out later. I'm tired, everyone's fucking tired, and soon the rest of the year groups are gonna hate us, so I'm going for a fucking nap.'

'Here, here.' Finch mutters, rubbing his eyes. Specs goes for a nap like the rest of his dorm, but he can't sleep, and spends his time staring at the ceiling, the occasional tear slipping out. 

His dad's going to be disappointed, his mum will be worried, and he's both at the same time. And he's got an essay due for tomorrow. 

So you can't really blame him.

* * *

'I brought some muffins from the kitchen,' Blink announces, shaking the tin gently. 'I don't know how you got the staff to love you so much, Elmer.' Elmer's eyes light up, and he grabs the tin and tosses the lid off, already biting into a muffin. 

Albert smiles at Blink as he sits down. 'What happened at the meeting?' Blink sighs, making a face.

'Quidditch is banned for everyone, even fucking Pulitzer is writing about it in The Daily Prophet.' Elmer stops eating as him and Albert gasp. 

'Shit, it's my fault.' Elmer says sadly, but Blink slaps his leg lightly.

'No it's not, ya goof, no one's blaming you. They're all worried about you. But it is Oscar's fault - why didn't you tell McGonagall about him pushing you?'

Elmer gives a helpless smile. 'Games a game, and he's a huge asshole, but I don't want to start anything.' Albert shrugs as if to say he couldn't convince him, so Blink just leaves it. 'So who's worried about me?' 

'Everyone, even fucking Specs asked about you. That's somethin' to be proud of.' Elmer grins widely, while Albert rolls his eyes, smiling. 

'Now he's never gonna shut up about that, he's as bad as fucking Romeo.' Albert looks really happy to see that Elmer's ok, which makes Blink smile softly. He feels for Albert, having a crush on your best friend who quite obviously doesn't like you back sucks. But Albert is just happy to be his friend, and if Elmer was to get a boyfriend, Albert would be the happiest person for him. 

'I should get going, I've got an essay to write, and I promised Race I'd play a game of cards with him. See you guys.' Albert streches, and goes to get up too. 

'Yeah, I need to get started on that essay too. See ya later, Elmo.' Elmer nods, mouth full of muffin, and the two walk out. 

Blink rasies one of his eyebrows. 'I thought you'd be sitting with him for today.' Albert scoffs. 

'He's a big boy, and it's not life threatening anymore, I think he can manage.' 

'Fair enough, I'm going to my common room, I'll catch you later.' Albert waves Blink off, and Blink makes his way to his common room. 

'Race?' He calls out, face scruched in confusion. 'What are you doing here? Thought we weren't playing cards until later.' Race jumps from his position of slumping on the wall, looking guilty.

'We are. I'm just... hanging out.' 

'In front of the Slytherin common room?' Blink asks suspiciously. 

Race nods eagerly. 'Yep, I just... love it here.' Race looks over Blink's shoulder, and Blink turns around to see what he's looking at, but it's just a blank hallway with a corner that leads to the stairs. 'Um, gotta go, but I'll see you for cards later.' Race sprints down the corridor, leaving a confused Blink.

'Whatever.' He mutters, and goes into the common room, but bumps into Katherine, who's also on her way out. 'Where you off to?'

'Oh, just to see a teacher about some classwork.' She says, waving her arms around carelessly, which is a sure sign she's lying. Blink narrows his eyes, annoyed with his shifty acting friends. 

'Kath, I'm in all your classes. You're ahead, and don't need to see any teachers.' He says tiredly, but she gets defensive. 

'I'm just going to see a fucking teacher, alright? Prick.' She mutters, shoving past Blink. He stands in the doorway for a few seconds, trying to take through what just happened. 

'Katherine and Race are fucking.' He mutters. 'Unbelievable.' He scans the room, getting more annoyed when he realizes something.

'Fuckin' Spot's not even here. Today's gonna be boring.' Must be hanging out with one of his Hufflepuff friends, like Mush or something.

Blink needs a fucking aspirin. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not proofread, im way to drained rn lmao
> 
> kudos and comments are loved by me dearly <3
> 
> tumblr; racetrackhuggins (free feel to message me about this)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gryffindor: Jack, Race, Albert, Elmer, Pulitzer (head of house)  
> Hufflepuff: Crutchie, Romeo, Mush, Specs, Finch, Medda (head of house)  
> Ravenclaw: Davey, Smalls, Skittery, Sarah, Denton (head of house)  
> Slytherin: Blink, Spot, Oscar and Morris, Katherine, Snyder (head of house)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is really short but I'm on holiday rn and this was all written on my phone, I have no wifi and I'm using 3G but hey at least I got this out!!

Katherine takes a deep breathe in, and fixes her tie. She can see her dad from the tiny square of glass in the door, where he's writing something down. She knocks timidly on the door, and without looking up, her dad calls for her to come in. 

'Katherine, how may I help you?' The way he says this is neutral, like how he'd address a student, but that's not what Katherine came to talk to him about. She decides that the best way to get through to him is to put the conversation firmly in the father to daughter stage. 

'Dad, look, what happened a few days ago, with that girl, it really isn't what you think.' She begins, and he raises an eyebrow, and takes a drink of his coffee. 'I was asking her about her br-'

Pulitzer stares her down, making her stop in the middle of her sentence. 'Katherine, i do not care if you like boys, girls or whatever. You shouldn't be dating at all, in my opinion. That Kelly boy was bad news, I'm simply glad you're not with him anymore. I'm disappointed that you were at that overnight quidditch match, however. It's not like you to be breaking the rules, especially since your... incident, last year. You need to focus on your studies.'

'I know, Dad.' Katherine mumbles, shuffling on her feet anxiously.

'Good, you should get to studying.' He dismisses her with a wave of his hand, and she scuttles out of his classroom, her breathing uneven. She makes her way back into the Slytherin common room in a daze, and goes to grab her books.

'What do you think you are doing?' Blink asks calmly, creeping up behind and crossing his arms. Katherine jumps in surprise, as he wasn't in the common room a second ago.

'Studying...'

Blink shakes his head, raising a eyebrow. 'Um, no you're not. Do you not remember the rule? You're not allowed to study by yourself now. You need to ask one of us to study with you, remember? You're in luck, im not busy and I'll study with you right now.'

Katherine didn't forget the rule, but her dad had made me scared enough to ignore it. Her heart warmed, seeing her friend concerned for her, even if it's in his own condescending way. 'Ok.'

'Good, cause I need some advice.' Blink said, as they sat in a corner.

'Advice? On what?' She smirks, opening her book.

'Well, there's this boy... Fuck, this is so cliche.'

'Boy? Who!' Katherine says, but Blink clutches her arms.

'Keep your voice down!' He hisses. 'I don't want anyone hearing.'

'Is it a Slytherin? Is it Spot?'

Blink snorts, shaking his head quickly. 'God, no. It's, um, one of his friends.'

Katherine frowns. 'It's not Specs, is it? Because I think Romeo's got a crush on him, and if you two fall out over that...'

'Romeo's not got a crush on Specs!' Blink laughs. 'He's got one on Finch. He told me that Specs seems stuck up, although he's hot. His words, not mine.' He clears his throat. 'But, it's not Specs. It's Mush.'

'Who, the scrawny one?' Katherine says, and Blink glares at her. 'Hey, I'm just calling it like it is. I pushed him down a hill once. Nice guy.'  
  
'Yes, the scrawny one.' He huffs. 'I really like him, but I'm not sure if he likes me. We hang out sometimes, and I played my guitar for him, and... I was gonna ask him out at the quidditch match last night, but I didn't get the chance.'  
  
Katherine clicks her tongue sympathetically, as she studies her page. 'That sucks.'

Blink nods, but he has a strange expression on his face. 'So, anything new happening in your love life?' She laughs, shaking her head. 'Really? You sure?'

'I'm sure.' She says, amused.

'Yeah, ok. Have you seen Race today?' She shakes her head, confused. 'Ok, just wondering.'

They sit in silence, studying, until it's lunchtime. The fifth years walk in nervously, already knowing what's going to happen. Jack slides up to Katherine and whispers in her ear that he needs to talk to her. She nods, and he takes her aside.

'How's it going with your dad here?' Since they dated for about 3 years, Jack has met Mr Pulitzer before, and he hated Jack immediately, which didn't help their relationship.

'Not good. He thinks me and Sarah are dating, but he doesn't want me dating anyone. He thinks it will affect my grades.'

'You and Sarah?' Jack splutters, and Kath shakes her head.

'We're not, he just thinks so. Look, I've gotta go. See you, Jack.'

'Bye.' He replies, a hint of bitterness in his voice, which makes Katherine's heart ache.

She still likes Jack, 3 years wont just go away. But she knows that she's done the right thing, even if it causes her some pain. She takes a seat next to Blink and Spot.

'Fuck dude, who gave you those hickeys?' Blink exclaims, pointing to Spot's neck. Katherine laughs, and Spot winks at them.

* * *

'Fuck dude, who gave you those hickeys?' Albert asks, pulling down Race's scarf, who swats his arm away.

'Doesn't matter.' He mutters, pulling his scarf up quickly. 'Won't be happening again.'

'One time only thing?' Jack asks, and Race nods, a tight smile on his face. It was a 3rd time thing, if you count the quidditch game, and last night. Still, it _will_ be the last time.

Yeah, right.

'Attention!' Professor McGonagall says, and the room falls silent. 'As I'm sure some of you already know, a fifth year student, Elmer Hastings, was injured in an illegal game of quidditch, which was hosted by the fifth years. Because of this disgrace, Mr Pulitzer and me have agreed that quidditch is too dangerous, and simply can't continue at Hogwarts. It's officially banned.' The room broke out into noise, but Professor McGonagall just sat down, and let the noise continue.

'Oi, Kelly, this your doing?' A brave third year shouted down the table, and Jack shakes his head.

'Wasn't me who organised it, or who injured Elmer. And don't act so tough, you watched it when you were a tiny first year, Holmes.' Jack replies quickly, but the table were staring in disgust at all the fifth years, making Race sink in his seat slightly. From the looks of the other tables, they're getting the same treatment. Romeo even got pelted with a piece of bread, which Crutchie ate afterwards.

They were all happy to get out of the Great Hall, and Jack called all the fifth years who were at the match down to the lake.

'We're hated by everyone!' Skittery complains, kicking a rock. Jack sighs quietly.

'I know, I know. But there's gotta be a way to get quidditch back, right? Anyone got ideas? Specs? Race? Davey?' They shook their heads, making Jack sigh again. 'Ok, we've got nothing, yet.'

'I might have something.' Smalls pipes up. 'I have an aunt who works for the Daily Prophet, and she'll be in Hogsmeade this weekend, just like us. I'm meeting her for a coffee, and me and someone else could try and talk her out of letting them print the article that Pulitzer wants to get out. She's not too important, but she's got some leverage, and if we convince her, she'll try all she can.'

'That's what I'm talking about!' Jack exclaims happily, smiling brightly. 'Who'd be the best person to go with you?'

'Well, she was a Hufflepuff, so I think she'll be soften if a Hufflepuff comes with me. Crutchie?' Crutchie nods happily, sharing a smile with Smalls. Race looks between them suspiously, but is distracted by the scowling Slytherin next to him.

'The rest of the years still hate us, and the article not being printed isn't going to unban Quidditch.' Spot points out.

'It's a start.' Jacks says firmly, and the meeting is left at that.

'Hey, do you mind coming into Hogsmeade with me this weekend? Spot doesn't wanna go, and Finch and Specs have their own thing going on.' Mush asks Blinks, who nods.

'Sure, I need to buy some things for my sister back home, anyways.' Mush flashes a smile at him, before going to catch up with Spot. Meanwhile, Finch grabs Romeo to the side.

'I need a favour.' He starts, and Romeo raises his eyebrow.

'With what?'

'You know Specs?'

'Look,' Romeo warns him. 'I'm many things, but I'm not a hitman.'

Finch laughs quietly, making Romeo smile. 'Nah, I need your help with getting him a boyfriend. He's hopeless, and I know you're good with setting people up. You in?'

Romeo hesitates. On one hand, Specs seems like a stuck up prick. He hasn't even said one word to Romeo or Crutchie, despite being in their house for 5 years, although it is Crutchie's first year in the dorm. But on the other hand, Finch is asking him. He's sure he can deal with Specs for a hour or two, if it gives him an excuse to talk to Finch.

'I'll do it.' Romeo says, and Finch gives him another smile.

'Thank you so much, I'll make it up to you.'

'That a promise?' Romeo flirts easily, and Finch chuckles.

'Only if you want it to be. See you later.'

Romeo waits until Finch is in Hogwarts, before fist pumping the air, ignoring Blink staring at him.

'Man, you're so weird.'

'Only for you, baby.' He blows a kiss at Blink, who catches it and pretends to throw it in a blender. 'You hurt me.'

'Good.'


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gryffindor: Jack, Race, Albert, Elmer, Pulitzer (head of house)  
> Hufflepuff: Crutchie, Romeo, Mush, Specs, Finch, Medda (head of house)  
> Ravenclaw: Davey, Smalls, Skittery, Sarah, Denton (head of house)  
> Slytherin: Blink, Spot, Oscar and Morris, Katherine, Snyder (head of house)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look ok september in Britain is cold so ya know they're wearin scarfs and shit

'Remind me again why we have to make out in your dorm? It gives me the creeps, no offence,' Race complains, as Spot locks the door.

'Because all your friends are in Gryffindor.' Spot puts the key in the lock, and grabs Race's robe to pull him in closer. 'Besides, I like it.'

'Real romantic,' Race says sarcastically, but pulls himself up to Spot’s lips. They manage to have a full 5 minutes to themselves before there's a knock on the door, which scares Race into pushing Spot into a wardrobe door.

'Shit!' Race swears, freezing when he hears the voice.

Blink's voice comes from the other side of the locked door. 'Race? What are  _ you _ doing in there? Let me in.'

'One second!' he calls out, frantically looking around the room for a place to hide Spot. 'In there!' he hisses, shoving Spot towards the cupboard.

Spot shakes his head in protest, his eyes wide, but Race shoves in him and shuts the door, running to let Blink in. 'Hi.' He smiles, trying to stop panting.

Blink raises his eyebrows at him. 'Just came to get my money for Hogsmeade.' He says it slowly, and Race nods eagerly.

'Cool, cool, enjoy it, heard it's cool, have a cool day, meet some cool dudes,' Race rambles, as Blink grabs his bag. He goes to leave, but stops just before the door.

'Why are you in the Slytherin boys’ dorm?'

'Um, it's pretty cosy in here. The snake decoration, it's nice.' Race fumbles through lying, making Spot, from inside the wardrobe, wince. 'They turn me on.'

'I'm gonna go.'

'Yeah.'

Spot slides out of the closet as soon as Blink's gone, smirking. 'If I knew that snakes turned you on, then we would’ve come down here ages ago.'

'I panicked,' Race whines, making Spot chuckle, and he kisses him slowly.

'Mmhm, 'course you did.' Spot smiles, and Race hesitates, wondering if he should ask Spot about what they actually are, but he doesn't get the chance.

'Mush, trust me, I know he's in there with Kath!'

'Are you sure?'

'Keep your voice down!'

Race jerks his head back to the wardrobe, but Spot glares at him and runs to the bathroom.

'I fucking knew it!' Blink rips open the door, only to find Race reading a book innocently. Mush is standing behind Blink, embarrassed. Race never knew they hung out, so that'll be something to keep in the back of his mind.

'Know what?' he asks sweetly, placing his book on the table

'I - but - she - you - what?' Blink stutters, while Mush tries not to laugh, obviously a bit uncomfortable with the situation. Desperate, Blink tries his final plan: outrightly asking. 'Race, are you and Katherine a thing or not?'

Race almost starts laughing at how stupid Blink is. If he had a thing with Katherine, the Slytherin's  _ boys _ dorms wouldn't be their make out spot. Also, he asked her out once, and she kicked his shin. 'I promise you, we're not.' They look ready to believe him, finally giving up, but of course something has to go wrong.

_ Click. _

Spot locks the bathroom door.

Blink's eye twinkles, and he marches over to the bathroom door. 'Are you not? That's  _ strange _ .'

Sighing, Race puts his hands up in defeat. 'Ok, ok, you win.'

'Come out, Kath! Your hiding days are over!' Blink shouts triumphantly, knocking on the door, and Race panics again.

'She can't! She's, erm, not got her shirt on.' Katherine barely lets Race see her with a shirt  _ on _ , let alone off.

' _ Oh _ , we'll leave you two alone then.' Mush laughs, guiding a confused Blink out the room. 

'Close one.' Race sighs, locking the door behind them. Spot walks out the bathroom with a strange look on his face.

'Yeah.' 

Race grins. 'So, where were we?' 

'Actually, I need to get some homework done,' Spot mumbles, walking calmly out of the dorm, leaving Race standing in the middle of the room.

'Fuck, what crawled up his ass?' Race mutters.

'What the fuck are you doing in here?' Morris glares, but Race just pushes past him and Oscar without a word.

* * *

 

'You ok?' Mush frowns, holding his hot chocolate in his cold hands. Blink nods, looking outside the window into the streets of Hogsmeade.

'I'm fine, just a bit drained.' He explains, taking a sip of his drink. 'Not to mention the whole Race and Kath thing.' 

'Wanna talk about it?' Mush offers, but Blink shakes his head, groaning.

'I don't even want to _ think _ about it. Please take my mind off of it.'

Mush giggles, drinking his hot chocolate. 'Are any of your other friends in relationships?' 

'Well, Race and Albert used to date, but that's over. Jack and Katherine broke up last year after 3 ye-  _ fuck, Jack _ !'  He swears suddenly, and Mush scrunches up his eyebrows in alarm.

'What about him?'

'He's gonna kill Race once he finds out about him and Katherine.' Blink sighs, placing his head down on the table, but he lifts it up to look at Mush apologetically. 'I'm really sorry I keep going on about this, I'm ruining our afternoon.' 

Mush just laughs, waving it off. 'Don't even worry about it, we could always have another date.' Blink's head shoots up, and he opens his mouth to talk, but the door to the coffeeshop slams open before he can.

'Blink!' Romeo shouts, dramatically running over to him and pulling him away. 'I need to talk to you urgently! Completely life changing!' Specs shuffles behind him, giving Mush a casual smile as Blink is dragged out the shop. 

'Hey.' He lifts up Mush's hot chocolate and drinks it, ignoring Mush's glare. 'How's your date going?'

'Blink's kinda going through a bit of a crisis right now,' Mush admits. 'But it's still nice to spend some time with him. How's the boy hunting going? Mentioned Finch yet?'

Specs makes a face. 'Shit, to be honest. I'll get one someday. As for Finch, not yet, but I'll casually slip him in next meeting. What even is Finch doing today?'

'Think he's working with Sarah Jacobs to try and get quidditch back, they're using one of the school's only computers to try and get some support.' 

'Good, if quidditch is back before half term then I won't even have to tell my dad that it was ever cancelled, and that my future is entirely up in the air. Maybe he'll laugh. Maybe he'll disown me. Whatever happens, I'm going to run away to Germany and be a goat shepherd.' 

'I'm sure your Dad will understand,' Mush says sympathetically, but Specs just shrugs as Romeo and Blink come back, eyeing each other warily. 

'Sorry Mush, but I've gotta go with Romeo somewhere, can I call a raincheck on another, um, date?' Blink stutters, and Mush swallows his disappointment, flashing Blink an understanding smile.

'OK, but I'm holding you to that,' he says, grabbing his coat and paying his half of the bill, and after having a quick argument in his head, places a small kiss on Blink's cheek. 'See you guys later. Specs?' Specs hops up from his seat, shooting Romeo a look and walking out with Mush silently.

'Specs?'

'Yeah?'

'Tell me once the coffeeshop is out of sight.'

'...Now.'

Mush lets out a squeal, grabbing Specs' shoulders in alarm. 'I  _ kissed _ him.'

'Yeah, on the cheek.'

' _ Still _ !'

Specs laughs, gently peeling off Mush's arms off of him. 'Good job, kiddo.'

'I really like him.'

'I know.'

* * *

 

'Hey.' Smalls grins at Crutchie, her hands stuffed in her coat pockets. 'We're meeting my Aunt Tarama at Hog's Head Inn in about 15 minutes.' 

'What's she like?' Crutchie asks, shuffling along beside her as they make their way down to Hogsmeade. 

Smalls makes a face. 'She's… kinda estranged from my family. I'm a muggleborn, and she's the only other witch in the family, which doesn't make her very popular. She tried to get in contact with me once she found out that I was going to Hogwarts, but my mum told me that she doesn't think it's a good idea to get back in touch with her. This is the first time I'm seeing her since I was 8.' 

'Wow.' Crutchie whistles. 'How'd you get in touch with her?'

'I got Kath to help me write a letter. She wrote back straight away, asking to meet me today, and then the whole quidditch thing happened, so I could use her help anyways. So… here we are.' Smalls seems slightly uncomfortable with this topic, but she continues on. 'She's kinda... well, she's unpredictable. She believes in good luck charms, everything that my mum thinks is nonsense.'

'Think she'd be impressed if I told her I have my lucky binder on?' Crutchie nudges her arm, and she gives a quiet snort, but they've made it to Hogsmeade now, and she quickly goes back to biting her lip.

'Hey, it's gonna be ok. She's your family.' Crutchie says softly, and Smalls nods, taking a deep breath as they enter Hog's Head Inn.

Tamara Quartz is sitting in the middle of the room, two empty seats in front of her. She looks strikingly like Smalls, with the same brown eyes and dark freckles over her nose. Some of her braids are stacked on top of her head, while the rest are down her back, which is covered by a bright purple cardigan, and she's wearing dark mustard trousers.

Crutchie couldn't believe she worked for the most famous newspaper in the wizarding world. 

Her eyes light up as they walk in, and she stands up. 'Meredith.' She beams, giving Smalls a quick hug. 

'Um, I kinda go by Smalls now.' She mumbles, as they sit down. 

'I can see why, you're barely 5 feet.' Tamara smiles good-naturedly. Her eyes skim over Crutchie. 'And who's your friend?'

'Charlie Morris, Hufflepuff. I go by Crutchie, for obvious reasons.' He motions to his crutch, holding out his hand for a handshake. Tarama shakes it firmly. 

'Hufflepuff, huh? I hope it's still keeping the tradition of being the best house.' Tarama winks at him, before turning her attention back to Smalls. 'So, what did you want my help with?'

'Well, we had this thing going on for a few years where we snuck out our dorms to play quidditch at the start of every year, but this year a kid got hurt, and McGonagall banned quidditch. Pulitzer, our new History of Magic teacher and writer for The Daily Prophet wants to print an article about it, and we were wondering if you could stop it being printed,' Smalls says, and her aunt whistles. 

'Joseph Pulitzer? The guy who won best reporter of the year? You think I can stop him from posting an article? Shit, that guy could publish anything he wanted and no one would say a thing, he's golden.' Smalls blinks at her aunt’s swearing, but Crutchie deflates at the news that she can't stop Pulitzer. 

Tamara's face becomes kinder. 'Look, I'll try and speak up about it, but at _ best _ I can get it off the front page. I wish I could do more, kiddo, but I can't.'

'It's ok, Aunt Tamara.' Smalls gives her an awkward smile. Feeling like they might want some time to themselves, Crutchie politely excuses himself to go to buy some sweets at Honeydukes, leaving the two of them to talk and agreeing to meet Smalls in an hour.

'Crutchie, hey!' Katherine runs over to him, smiling. She's wearing a beanie and a scarf, her cheeks slightly red from the cold, and is holding a notebook. 'What happened with Smalls' aunt?'

'She can't stop Pulitzer from posting it, but she's gonna try and make sure it's not on the front page.' Katherine frowns and opens her mouth to reply, but someone runs straight into her, almost knocking her over. 

'Fuck, sorry Kath! It's just - you need to - shit, I ran all the way down the hill,' Sarah Jacobs pants, holding her side. 'You gotta come with me.' 

Katherine looks confused, but shoots Crutchie an apologetic look as she's dragged away. Waving her off, Crutchie enters Honeydukes and spots Albert digging change out of his pocket to pay for the chocolate he just bought. 

'Hi, Albert.' Crutchie grins, grabbing his favourite bar of chocolate and going up behind him in the line. Albert gives him a distracted wave, still trying to look for the last bit of his money, but when he finally finds it he waits for Crutchie to finish paying. 

'How's Elmer doing?' Crutchie asks sympathetically as they sit down on a bench outside. Albert shrugs, ripping open the chocolate bar wrapper.

'Doing better, he'll be able to go back to classes on Monday, and he's sleeping in the dorm tonight. His concussion is basically gone now, which is good.'

'That's good.' They sit in comfortable silence, not facing each other, because Crutchie can see that Albert wants to get something off his chest, so he's waiting until he wants to talk about it.

'Race had a hickey today.'

'That's his second this week.' 

'Should I have minded?'

Crutchie thinks for a few seconds before answering. 'Depends, you guys only went out for a few months, so I guess it just depends on what you feel.'

'It makes me feel bad that I don't mind, ya know? Like, I was faking my feelings when I was with him, just because I liked another guy throughout it. Is that bad?'

'You can like more than one person at a time, even if you don't identify as poly. To Race, and to everyone else last year, it was pretty clear how you felt. Don't feel guilty because you don't feel that way anymore.' 

Albert stays silent for a while, but he quietly speaks up as he gets up from the bench. 'Thanks, Crutch.' He responds with finger guns, and pulls out his potions book as he waits for Smalls.

* * *

 

Romeo picks pieces of grass absentmindedly, biting his lip. Specs is 7 minutes late, and Romeo's not exactly in the best mood. Not only is this guy a dick, Romeo offers to help him (even if it's just to get closer to Finch) and he doesn't even bother to show up on time. 

'I'm sorry I'm late!' Specs says, clumsily laying his long legs out in front of him as he sits next to Romeo. 'Were you waiting long?'

'Not really.' Romeo shrugs, smiling warily. Dickhead's not even giving an excuse. 'Anyways, let's start. What sorta guy are you looking for? What's your type?’

Specs fidgets slightly. 'Um, I'm not really  _ sure _ ?'

Biting back a sigh, Romeo raises his eyebrows. 'Well, what do all your ex's have in common?'

'They don't exist.' Specs smiles sheepishly. Romeo's eyes widen, and he turns his body to face Specs more.

'Seriously? You've never had a boyfriend? Did you just figure out you're gay?'

'I've known since I was 13. I'm just... not really good at talking to people? Like, at all?' Specs fidgets with his jumper, embarrassed. 

Romeo, noticing how uncomfortable Specs is, changes the subject. 'Oh, ok. So no type?' Specs shakes his head. 'You really don't mind what guy I pick out?'

'Well, obviously I do mind. He can't be a prick, and someone who's funny wouldn't be too bad. But those are kinda obvious.' Romeo lets out a small chuckle at Specs' words. 

'Dude, believe it or not, that's not obvious. I've seen some of my friends with the biggest dickheads ever, but I'll find you some decent guys, I promise. I've brought last year's yearbook, have a look.'

Specs laughs softly as Romeo takes the book out of his bag. 'You're really professional about this, huh?' Romeo gives him a rueful smile as they skim through the pages.

'What about Tommy-Boy?' Romeo points to him, but Specs fulls a face. 

'He threw me into a wall once because I beat him in a quidditch match. No thanks. How about Buttons?'

'If you  _ want _ to, but he'll go out on a few days with you and then break up with you because he 'just isn't ready' and 'it's not about you', but you catch him making out with Elmer behind the changing rooms and he gets mad at you for being mad but I'm not bitter. So yeah, go out with him if you want.' Romeo ends his rant with a forced smile at the end.

Specs lets out a nervous breath. ' _ Okay _ , not Buttons. Man, this is harder than I thought it would be. Even  _ Mush _ is doing better than me, he's on a fucking date right now.'

'Wait, does Mush think it's a date?' Romeo gasps loudly.

'Does Blink not?!' Specs raises his eyebrows. 

'He wasn't sure!'

'Does he _ want _ it to be a date?'

'Yes! He really likes Mush and - I shouldn't be telling you this.' Romeo grabs his bag and his jacket, as they were not in school uniform. 'I have to go down to Hogsmeade. Did you give in a permission slip?'

Specs nods, standing up beside him. 'Let's go crash their date.'

-

'Blink!' Romeo shouts, dramatically running over to him and pulling him away. 'I need to talk to you urgently! Completely life changing!' Blink shoots him a confusing look, but Romeo ignores it, dragging him out the shop. 

Blink shakes his arm off. 'What are you doi-' 

'Mush thinks you're on a date. He  _ likes _ you!' Romeo blurts out, and Blink's eyes widen.

'Wh-what? Seriously?'

'Yes!' Romeo exclaims excitedly, but Blink doesn't seem very excited. 'What, you don't like him anymore?'

He sighs. 'No, it's just - look, if I tell you something, you can't tell  _ anyone _ .  _ Especially _ Jack.'

Romeo puts his hand to his heart. 'I promise.'

Blink takes a deep breath, and opens his mouth. 'Race and Katherine are dating.' 

Admittedly, Romeo doesn't pride himself on being a subtle person. 

' _ They're WHAT? _ !'

'Be quiet! I'll tell you everything in a minute. I'll just go cancel my date with Blink for it, I'm not exactly the best company for him right now.' Blink mutters bitterly. 'Fuck, I've probably ruined my chance with him, because all I can think about is  _ them. _ '

'Blink-' Romeo tries, but he walks back into the shop, and Romeo follows. His best friend usually gets like this whenever something good happens, and from what Romeo can figure out, it has to do with some of the shit his mum did to him, which makes him angry on his best friend's behalf. 

'Sorry Mush, but I've gotta go with Romeo somewhere, can I call a raincheck on another, um, date?' Blink stutters, and Romeo rolls his eyes, which Specs catches, and raises his eyebrows. 

'OK, but I'm holding you to that.' Mush says, grabbing his coat and paying his half of the bill, and after some hesitation, places a small kiss on Blink's cheek. 'See you guys later. Specs?' Specs hops up from his seat, shooting Romeo a look that he can't quite read, and follows behind him.

'See? He still likes you.' Romeo grins at Blink, who is standing still with a goofy look on his face which isn't natural on the Slytherin, but it suits him at the same time.

'Yeah.'

* * *

 

‘What is it?’ Katherine asks, as Sarah drags her off.

‘Me and Finch need your help.’ She states bluntly, still panting.

Katherine scowls. ‘With what? Can you guys not work a computer? I’m trying to hel-’

‘Actually,  _ Plumber _ , I think you can help us a little bit more.’ Sarah, surprisingly, spits at Kath, who reels, and tries to catch back up to the seething Sarah, who is quickly making her way up the hill.

‘Woah, what’s wrong? What did I do?’ she asks.

Sarah turns towards her, her anger only slightly fading at seeing Katherine’s face. ‘We went to Pulitzer’s wizipedia page, and under family, we found the _ strangest _ picture.’

Kath goes pale, gulping. ‘Lo-’

‘ _ Don’t _ . Just don’t. We just need your help getting the story out, because you’re a journalist, and you know how to hit your… dad… where it hurts.’

‘Sarah, plea-’

‘Save it. You know how important quidditch is, but you don’t even bother to come forward about your fucking dad?’ They’ve reached Hogwarts by now, and Sarah turns away from her. ‘Finch is in the computer room, find him.’

‘I’m sorry, ok?’ Katherine tries one last time, but Sarah doesn’t turn around. 

‘Hey, Katherine?’ She turns around, finding Finch smiling nervously at her. ‘I, um, I won’t tell anyone. It’s your secret. Sarah won’t either, she’s just mad and needs to blow off some steam.’

‘Thank you,’ she says softly, and they walk back to the computer room, making polite small talk.

* * *

 

‘Really? You’re reading on the first Hogsmeade visit of the year?’ Skittery scoffs, but Davey just waves him away, and he  _ does _ go away, admittedly, but Jack takes his place straight after.

‘Hey, you going into Hogsmeade?’ David shakes his head, not taking his eyes off his book. Jack sighs, yanking it from his hands. 

‘So what are we gonna do?’ Davey snatches it back quickly.

_ ‘I’m  _ going to read my book. I don’t know what _ you’re  _ going to do,’ he says, and Jack laughs. They play out this little scene almost every visit to Hogsmeade, but they love it. 

‘I’m wounded, Dave.’ Jack pouts, but gets distracted and calls over Blink and Romeo. ‘Hey guys! How was Hogsmeade?’

‘Normal,’ they both say at the same time, looking obviously guilty. 

Jack raises his eyebrows, but lets it go. ‘Have you guys seen Race? I wanna see if he wants to go to Hogsmeade with me.’ 

‘No, he’s um, he’s got something with a teacher,’ Romeo says quickly.

‘Oh. Ok?’ Jack makes a face of confusion at Davey, who just shrugs. Romeo and Blink scurry off, whispering between them.

‘That was...unusual.’ David blinks.

‘Yup.’ Jack munches on an apple, just as Les and a few of his friends walk into the Grand Hall. ‘Oi, Les! Jacobs 3.0!’

Les’ face turns deep red. He quickly turns to explain something to his friends, and walks quickly over.

‘Hey Les.’ Davey smiles, but it’s quickly thrown off by the look of anger on Les’ face.

‘I can’t believe you got quidditch cancelled!’ he shouts, and Jack and David share a look.

‘Look, little guy, we’re sorry, bu-’ Jack says, but Les interrupts him.

‘The coach said I was good! It was my  _ one _ chance of standing out this year and making some good friends, and you guys had to ruin it for me,’ he spits out. ‘ _ Dicks _ .’

‘Les, wai-’ Davey tries, but Les turns to him and looks him in the eye.

‘I hate you.’ He shakes, before running back over to his friend. David sighs, putting his head in his hands. 

‘He’s just mad, he’ll come around.’ Jack tries to reassure him, but it doesn’t really work.

‘I hope so. I just wish it wasn’t banned in the first place, it’s caused so many problems, and don’t even get me started on Pulitzer.’

‘Yeah…’ Jack mutters, distracted by his own thoughts. Davey jokingly pokes his forehead with his finger, and Jack manages a quick smile, but his heart isn’t in it.

‘Look, I’m gonna go see if I can find Kath…’ he trails off, and David nods. ‘You ok by yourself?’

‘I’m fine, go find Kath,’ he says, smiling happily, and Jack, satisfied with his answer, leaves to find her. 

Opening his book, he tries to get back into it, but with what just happened with Les, and his feelings for Jack being timesed by 43 now that he’s single, it’s probably the first time in his life he hasn’t been able to lose himself in a book.

‘When did I turn into a 12 year old girl?’ he mutters to himself.

‘You mean you haven’t always been?’ Skittery, having not gone to Hogsmeade after all, smirks. 

‘Thanks, dude.’

‘Anytime.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: blink was gonna catch spot and race this chapter and it would of ended in a lot of confused screaming but I think Ive been watching too much friends lately it was v sitcom-y
> 
> look writers block has been SO bad for me, im really sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter up
> 
> THANK YOU TO MY BETA REILLY AKA @RACETRACKOUT ON TUMBLR I LOVE
> 
> sorry kath and sarah was short, this chapter was a build up for them i promise :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gryffindor: Jack, Race, Albert, Elmer, Pulitzer (head of house)  
> Hufflepuff: Crutchie, Romeo, Mush, Specs, Finch, Medda (head of house)  
> Ravenclaw: Davey, Smalls, Skittery, Sarah, Denton (head of house)  
> Slytherin: Blink, Spot, Oscar and Morris, Katherine, Snyder (head of house)

'So can you at least try and talk to him? He's been ignoring me for a week now.' David complains to his sister, as they eat breakfast.

Sarah sighs, moving her eggs around her plate with her fork. 'I'll try Dave, but I can't promise anything. He's sorta got a point, Les knows how to hold a grudge.'

'Wonder where he got that from.' Davey mutters, and Sarah's back perks up, and her glares at him. 

What do you mean, dearest brother?' She asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm, something that her brother knows well.

'I mean, we've all noticed you're ignoring Katherine. Remember lunch yesterday?'

Sarah does. They were all sitting on the hill near the school outside, since it was nice weather for once. Sarah was having a normal conversation with Albert and Blink, when Katherine started to walk up the hill, which made Sarah make a quick excuse and began to leave, going down the opposite side of the hill than the side that Katherine came up at. It wasn't the first time that happened this week, as Sarah has managed to avoid Katherine fully. 

'I've got no idea what you're talking about.' She says calmly, sipping her drink.

Davey scoffs. 'Cut the shit. Why are you even mad at her?' Sarah scowls, but she doesn't say anything. 'Grow up.'

She picks up her plate and starts to get up from the table, her face still. 'I'm finished now. Thanks for convincing me to talk to Les and then insulting my choices about _my_ life. Kindly, fuck off.'

Walking into the corridor, she can hear footsteps hurrying up behind her, until someone taps her on the shoulder. 

Jack Kelly pulls her over to the side of the hall so they won't get in peoples way. 'Kath told me you know.' 

'Course she did,' Sarah mumbles, thinking of their conversation in the cupboard where Katherine said she's trying to stay away from Jack. 'I'm guessing you already knew.'

'Yeah, I did. And I think you need to get the fuck over yourself. Katherine isn't close to her dad at all, her home life is never been stable, and there's a _reason_ she doesn't use her real last name, you know. You can't possibly expect her to go against him publicly. She's with us, she wants quidditch back, but she has to stay anonymous, because her dad doesn't want her to be at Hogswarts anymore, and he's waiting for something to use as an excuse.' Jack takes a deep breath, and turns on his heel, going back to the dining room.

Sarah tries to disgest the words in her head, leaning against the wall. 'Jacobs!' Finch slides up next to her, a smile on his face. She returns it shakily, and he gets serious. 

'About last week...'

'You were right.' She interrupts. 'We shouldn't tell anyone, and we shouldn't ask her to help us.'

'Oh.' Finch blinks. 'Ok. I'm glad you had a change of heart. But it's not about that. It's about the emails.'

'They're not important.' Sarah says quickly, playing with the edge of her robe. 'Just some teenage bullshit, you know what it's like.'

Finch nods uncertainly. 'Alright... does David at least know?'

'You doing anything today? A couple of us are going to watch a movie in Professor Larkin's class at lunch, it's a muggle world classic. Interested?' Sarah asks, subtly changing the subject.

'Yeah, definitely, considering one of my friends is studying with his sorta boyfriend, the other is sorta _trying_ to get a boyfriend, and Spot's...' He furrows his eyebrows. 'I don't know what Spot's doing. But I'm in.'

Sarah snorts just as the bell goes to signal the start of classes, and she quickly walks to her class trying to beat the crowd, Jack's words ringing in her ear.

* * *

'Ok, so,' Jack announces at lunch, to the group of people who were at the quidditch match. 'Smalls' aunt kept her word, and it wasn't front page. But, it still got printed. So what we gonna do?'

'What can we do?' Specs mutters, kicking his legs on the stool he was sitting on in the cramped music room. 'He got printed. Not being front page didn't exactly make him cry or anything. What's the point?'

'Don't be so negative. It's a start.' Finch says, elbowing his friend and giving Jack a reassuring nod.

'Sarah and Finch are writing an article about why quidditch should be brought back, how's that doing?' Jack asks, and Sarah speaks up confidently. 

'It's going great. We're about halfway done, and Kath helped us read it over. She's been a great help.' Kath's head cocks up at her name, looking surprised that Sarah spoke so nicely about her, but quickly turns her attention back to Jack.

Jack clasps his hands, smiling. 'Sounds good. We'll be up in Larkin's classroom if anyone wants to come watch Grease. Um... meeting disbanded?' 

Romeo bounces up to Specs, a ready smile on his face. 'Boy scouting time, let's go!' Specs follows, sending a look at Finch who's watching Romeo walk out the room, but catches Specs' eyes and winks. 

'So, we're just gonna eat lunch and... rate people?' Specs questions, once they're sat down and eating.

'Yup, basically. What about Ike?' 

'Ehhhhh...5 at most? He's hot but... not my type.'

'Fair enough. Mike?'

'Seriously?'

Romeo laughs, and takes a bite of his lunch, but his face turns serious.

'So... why are you so negative about quidditch, man? We're trying.'

Specs' feels his face flare up. 'Quidditch was like the one thing I had going for me. My dad wants me to become a professional once I leave Hogswarts. It's bad enough trying to accept that's not gonna happen, I don't need everyone getting my hopes up about it.'

'But you get good grades! You're one of the best in our year! I'm sure you'll be fine, with quidditch or without.' Romeo smiles, but Specs lowers his eyes. 'So, Henry?'

'8. He's sweet. And yeah, my grades are good, but my dad's a _sports_ man, and he wants me to be one too.' Romeo says nothing for a few seconds.

'You don't have to be your dad, you know?' He says softly.

'Thanks.' Specs mutters and Romeo gives him a bright smile, one which Specs can't help to return. He feels his stomach tighten, looking at Romeo.

No.

Nope. 

Not him.

'I should go... study.' Specs says quickly, shoving a few last bits of food into his mouth. 

Romeo looks up at him in confusion. 'But it's only been 10 minutes?'

'Yeah, sorry.' Specs shuffles away, his face red.

* * *

Jack was in Finch's class before lunch, so they walk to Medda's classroom together, and Jack wasn't expecting Finch to be so easy to talk to and funny because he always seemed kinda like he took himself too seriously. He knows that him and Crutchie are close ever since they came out in the same year, so it probably shouldn't be as big as a surprise as it was, but hey, he's nice.

'Yeah, Mush is studying with Blink, and Specs is boyhunting with Romeo.' Finch says. 

'How's it going with you and Romeo?' Jack asks. They're not officially dating yet, but pretty much everyone knows there's something going on, mainly because Romeo likes to talk about it. A lot.

'Good, yeah. We talk in the common room sometimes, and I'm gonna ask him to go out to Hogsmeade with me next month.' Finch says, his cheeks reddening. 

Jack smiles at the boy's embarrassment. 'That's so sweet. That also reminds me, do you know whats going on between Blink an-' He stops talking as they walk into Medda's classroom, because sitting in the back row is Blink and Mush. 'Nevermind.'

Finch smile grows, and he quickly makes his way up to the back, slapping both of their backs gently. 'Hello, boys! Glad to see we're keeping up that _studying_!' He fist bumps the air. 'I'll go sit in the front, don't wanna interrupt this great...' Finch pauses, clasping his hands. ' _Education_.'

Blink's face is dark red, and Mush is glaring at his friends. Jack chuckles as he and Finch goes to sit next to Race, Crutchie and Sarah, Elmer, Jojo and Albert behind them. 'I get that Mush wants a boyfriend,' Finch says, tilting his head towards Jack. 'but he coulda at least told me.'

'Yeah.' 

Medda shouts over the small noise in the classroom. 'I'm starting the movie!' Crutchie jumps up on his seat excitedly, grabbing Jack's arm.

Romeo slides in the classroom just then, his face unreadable. Jack stares at him in confusion, because it's only 10 minutes into lunch and he was supposed to spend all of lunch with Specs. He sits with Mush and Blink, whispers something to them, and Mush stands up and leaves the classroom. Jack shuffles backwards in his seat as _Grease_ starts.

It takes Jack exactly 15 minutes into the movie to realize that Romeo and Blink are hiding something from him. 

If you asked Jack, it was because he's extremely observant, but it was actually because they kept looking over at him and whispering, and when Jack asked for them to pass some popcorn over, they were guilty and passed him a book instead.

Looking over and seeing that Crutchie is sucked into his favourite movie, he quietly walks over to the empty seat beside them. Medda raises her eyebrow at him, but left him to it. 

'Oi,' He whispers over to them, and Romeo almost jumps into Blink's lap, just managing not to scream. 'You gonna tell me what you're hiding from me?'

' _Hiding_ something?' Romeo scoffs. 'No way. If anything, _you're_ hiding something.' Blink rolls his eye in despair. 

 'Just fuckin' tell him.' He grumbles.

'Don't overact, alright?' Romeo sighs, and Jack leans in, waiting for them to tell him. 'But... Katherine's dating someone.'

Jack's face changes, and he clenches his jaw. 'Who?' He asks lowly, and Romeo gulps. 'Who?!'

The two friends share a look, and they both slowly turn towards the front, where Race is telling a joke to Sarah. Jack narrows his eyes. 'That _fucker_.'

'Jack, Jack, don't do anythi-' Blink tries to grab Jack's sleeve, but Jack jerks his arm away as he walks back up to the front. 

He pushes Race up from his seat, ignoring the shouts from Medda. 'I thought we were friends!' He cries out, grabbing the shoulders of Race's shirt and pushing him against the wall. 'But you're dating Katherine?'

'W-What!?' Race splutters out. 'Jack, calm down and let me _explai_ -' Medda finally manages to grab Jack and she pulls him with her outside. He leans against a wall, not looking her in the eyes.

'Jack Kelly.' She says coldly. 'Letting you watch a movie in my class is a privilege, one that you have completely thrown back in my face. I'm disappointed.' He internally winces, because she sounds nothing like his foster mum, the Medda he's gotten used to.

Then her face changes to a more sympathetic one. 'What happened? Why are you mad at Race?'

He finally looks up, sniffing. 'He's dating Kath, and he didn't even tell me.' She sighs, bringing him in for a hug.

'Honey, I'm sorry.' 

'Thanks, ma.'

* * *

 

 'Grease sure was... somethin'.' Albert states, as the dining hall begins to fill up for dinner. 

'Hey, I enjoyed it! It was sweet.' Crutchie slaps Albert's arm as he walks towards the hufflepuff table.

Race scoffs. 'It was something.' 

'What was up with you and Jack during the movie, Race?' Elmer asks, as the 3 sit down at the table. 'Why was he mad?'

Race sneaks a glance at the slytherin house, where Katherine was laughing with Blink. Blink looks over at Race and he sees the guilt on his face. 

'Probably because he had to deal with you talking throughout the whole movie. You sang along with _every_ song, Elmer.'

Elmer puts his head down, mumbling into his dinner. 'Not Sandy. I can't hit those notes.'

Jack appears and sits down next to Albert, far away as possible from Race while still sitting with the group. Race leans forward, almost falling into his food. 'Jack, it's not what you think.' He says nothing, just keeps eating his food. 'Fuck.'

Race frantically rummages around in his pockets for a pen and paper, and finds both with a red envelope. He writes quickly into the page, Albert and Elmer watching in interest.

Elmer is staring at the paper, something nagging in his brain, when his eyes light up. 'Race, do you know that that's a Ho-'

'What, Elmer?!' Race demands, and Elmer's faces changes into a emotionless face. 

'Nothing.'

Race rolls his eyes and passes the envelope to Elmer. 'Give it to Jack.' Elmer does that, sealing the envelope as he passes it. Albert eyes him curiously, but he doesn't catch on until too late.

Jack opens the envelope, and the paper springs up, forming a mouth. 

**'JACK YOU GOT IT WRONG, I'M NOT DATING KATHERINE. I HAD TO LIE BECAUSE BLINK ALMOST CAUGHT ME KISSING SPOT. I'M SORRY, I WOULDN'T DO THAT TO YOU.'**

Race plants his face fully onto the table, some of his curls falling into his food. Everyone in the dinner hall is staring at the Howler, but once it mentions Spot and Blink their eyes turn to the slytherin table. Spot's face doesn't change, he just calmly picks up his plate and bins his food and leaves the hall.

'Oh Race?' Elmer says sweetly. 'I forgot to say. That was a Howler.'

'Thanks.' He mutters, his face still planted on the table.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg? finally an update? in my fic??  
> wild
> 
>  
> 
> sorry for not updating!! come shout at me at my tumblr; newseizes

**Author's Note:**

> shout out to the tumblr users who helped me with enough hogwarts infomation to feed 57 children:  
> @thatbookgleek  
> @small-potted-plant  
> @idontwanttokay
> 
> my tumblr: @newseizes


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